"W'y wot for is you a takin' things to eat?" asked Sally.
"Because we'll want to eat them," said Ned.
"Raw?" asked Sally.
"That's so," said Ned, with a look of confusion. "Boys, we haven't put in a single cooking utensil!"
Laughing at their blunder, the boys set about choosing from Maum Sally's stores what they thought was most imperatively needed. Two skillets, one to be used for frying and the other for baking bread; a kettle, to be used in boiling rice, in heating water for coffee, and as a bread pan in which to mix corn bread; a coffee pot; some tin cups; three forks and three plates, constituted their outfit.
Each boy had his pocket knife, of course, and Ned had put into the boat a large hunting knife from the house.
When all was stored ready for the morning's departure, the boys ate their supper and betook themselves to the piazza.
"I hope there'll be a fair breeze in the morning," said Ned, "for it will be a frightful job to row that big boat to Bee Island if there isn't wind enough to sail."
"How far is it?" asked Jack.
"About a dozen miles. But there is nearly always, breeze enough to sail, after we get away from the bluffs here; but the tide will be against us."