Something! Why, my dear reader, they found, in the buttery and milk-room and cellar of that little house on the shore, a dinner the like of which, for goodness, they believed never was equalled. They ate and ate, laughing and almost crying by turns over their good fortune, the happiness of feeling safe and warm again taking off their hearts a load, whose weight they had not appreciated until it was removed. Meanwhile the old gentleman gossiped on in a pleasant strain.
"My wife," he told them, "has gone down to the Port to see da'ter an' her husband, for a day or two. My son, he runs on the Lake Shore Railroad in the winter, and so I'm alone. They wanted me to go down to the Port, too, but I don't think any great things of the feller Samanthy married, and I told mother I 'lowed I'd be more comf'able stayin' home 'long with the cow and the chickens."
"What is this Port you speak of, sir?" Aleck asked him.
"What? Why, Port Linton, to be sure—don't ye know where that is? Oh, I forgot, ye're lost, ain't ye. He! he! Wall, Port Linton is a town on the railroad, and also on the shore, to the west'ard o' here, or, leastways, to the suthard, 'cause we're out on a pint here, and the Port is up at the head of the bay, behind the big ma'sh. Ye could see it if 'twan't for them big sycamores. 'S about five mile 'cross the water."
"Can you let us stay with you to-night, and to-morrow we'll go on to the Port?"
"Oh, yes, ye can stay, an' welcome. If mother was home I'd hitch up and take ye in, but I ain't got no horse to-day, so I s'pose that's the best thing ye can do. But you'll have to double up some, 'cause I ain't got four beds."
Their rich supper and deep sleep and full breakfast made a new crew of them, and next morning they were eager to get on. It seemed as though ages had passed since they had been in civilization, and Tug began to wonder whether he would recognize a railway car when he saw it. When they were ready to go, Aleck heartily thanked the kind old farmer for his hospitality, and asked how much he should pay him for their entertainment.
