Their revery was soon interrupted by the call of Ethan for them to come to dinner, and with a shout the boys leaped to their feet and ran to the place where the dinner had been prepared. The sight which met their eyes was one which might have done even an epicure good. Both the fishermen had been busy, and the results of their labors were now manifest. A fire had been kindled near the shore, and over it had been placed a contrivance with which nearly every fisherman on the St. Lawrence was provided. A frying-pan and pot had been used, in the former of which small pieces of salt pork and some of the recently caught fish had been cooked, and in the latter were green corn and potatoes. Coffee, also, had been made, and when the boys seated themselves upon the bank they perceived that Ethan had brought other dainties from his home. Huge “doughnuts,” and cookies of ample size, as well as pickles and various other dainties, were there. A large can filled with milk was also placed upon the improvised table, and altogether the “spread,” as Bert termed it, was most inviting.
“Where did you get all these things?” exclaimed the delighted Bob.
“Brought ’em with me in the skiff.”
“Is that what you do, every day you go fishing?”
“’Most always, when I take out city folks. I think they like the dinner we cook about as well as they do the fishin’ itself. ’Long about noon time we usually land and cook the dinner. Every boat has a lay-out somethin’ like ours, though I don’t say every one is as good as this,” he continued, with pardonable pride.
“I should say not,” replied Ben, as the boys all fell to with a will.
For a time scarcely a word was spoken, so busy were they all in the occupation upon which they were engaged. Ethan still remained by the fire, and from time to time brought pieces of the sputtering pork, which somehow seemed to disappear almost as rapidly as they came.
“What kind of meat did you say this is?” inquired Bob, as distinctly as one could pronounce the words when his mouth was filled with the article in question, and at the same time leaning forward to make sure that the last piece on the plate should not be wasted.
“Salt pork.”
“I never tasted of it before.”