“We’re out on a picnic to-day,” he explained, “and we want a little something to eat; a kind of lunch, you know.”
The storekeeper took a sugar-scoop out of a barrel and leaned on it for a minute, looking at the crowd that filled the space between his counters as if uncertain whether they were friends or foes.
“Well,” he said finally, “wha’ do ye want? We’ve got crackers an’ cheese, an’ that’s about all we hev got that’ll go around among ye.”
“Well, boys,” inquired Brede, “what do you say? Shall we have crackers and cheese?”
Every one assented, and the captain turned again to the storekeeper.
“How do you sell your crackers and cheese?” he asked.
“Crackers is wuth a shillin’ a pound, an’ cheese is wuth two shillin’.”
“Well, how many pounds do you think it’d take for us?”
“Oh, I don’ know. S’pose you try ten pounds o’ crackers an’ a couple or three pounds o’ cheese; an’ if that aint enough, why, they’s more here.”
“All right, weigh it out.”