[CHAPTER III]
AN EARLY TASTE OF SALT WATER
In the early morning, Bob and his mother had an animated conference. Mrs. Balfour forgave Bob’s late return only after she heard the story of his kidnaping by Tom Allen and Hal Burton and had listened to his account of Mrs. Mendez and Mrs. Allen.
When Bob had finished a description of Captain Joe Romano and of the Anclote Club, his mother at once vetoed a membership in the latter body. But the boy expected this, and in a short time, with many arguments, he had made the prohibition conditional. When Mrs. Balfour said she “would see about it,” Bob knew the worst was over.
Mrs. Balfour had plans for a little tour of her own in the shopping district, in which her son was to be a guide. And Bob was now too much concerned with his afternoon program to urge very strongly the launch ride on the bay. As his mother seemed to have forgotten this program as outlined the previous day, he did not revive it.
While Mrs. Balfour and the landlady fell to discussing desirable “French organdies” for sale in a certain shop, Bob decided to begin the day with an examination of the boarding house premises. A shell walk led around the house. In the rear, on each side of a deep, wide lot, were low, white buildings. Their roofs were green, with moss-covered shingles, while three wide-spreading oaks between them were garlanded with long strands of sombre but picturesque Spanish moss. The kitchen yard beneath the oaks was of hard packed earth. In one of the buildings, Bob heard a colored woman’s voice.
The odor of coffee, the soft sizzle of something frying, and the sharp clatter of dishes told him it came from the kitchen, isolated as usual in southern homes from the dwelling house. The woman seemed in a critical mood, to say the least. As Bob stopped to watch a scurrying fat hen, he could not avoid hearing what the unseen speaker was saying.
“What yo’ done wid dat two bits I done guv you day befo’ yistiday?”
There was an undistinguishable reply.