“But these eggs,” commented Lord Pelton, “they—”
“Eggs? I hadn’t anything to do with ’em,” exclaimed Jake. “Can’t anyone scramble eggs for Mr. Mackworth but himself. Talk to him about the eggs.”
“It’s so simple,” laughed their host, “that even Jake won’t do it.”
“What’s the secret?” asked Captain Ludington giving attention to the golden dish.
“No secret. All you have to do is to take ’em off before they’re cooked. In cookin’ eggs, you don’t. And then you ought to have real black pepper for seasoning; not white dust. Beat the whites and the yolks separately, just cover the bottom of the skillet with butter and keep turning the eggs from the edge of the pan to the center with a fork. When they are hot, take ’em off and they’ll finish cookin’ in their own heat and you won’t have ’em hard and dry.”
Before the party broke camp the Englishmen insisted they were in a fair way to get the gout and Captain Ludington had a notebook full of directions how to prepare Mr. Mackworth’s famous spaghetti; his “camp chicken;” coffee; steamed, sautéd, fried and baked trout and the sauce for each.
“It’s a case of hindsight bein’ better than lookin’ ahead,” said Phil at breakfast when Hosmer described the trail to Josephine Falls. As there seemed no good landing place there for the Loon it was decided that Sam Skinner should stay in camp that day; and about nine o’clock the rest of the party set out for a day’s fishing at the Falls. Hosmer directed a pack horse to be loaded with Jake’s luncheon outfit and the horsemen, at last on their way for real sport, were as lively as schoolboys.
When the first hill had been crossed and “Grizzly” picked up what he called a “road” through the tall lodge-pole pines in the next valley, even Mr. Mackworth laughed.
“Anything is a ‘road’ that you can keep goin’ on and where you don’t have to stop to cut down timber,” explained “Grizzly.”