"What's the matter?" asked Dick. "You look as if you'd lost your last friend."
"We didn't find any grub," explained Beeby.
"But we did, and I found something else," went on the lad of millions. "Here are slathers of soft clams. We can't starve while they hold out."
"We saw some like those, but I didn't think they were any good," remarked Beeby. "We were looking for something worth while."
"You'll find these worth while when you're hungry," went on Dick. "Come on, now, fellows, get a good fire going, gather some seaweed and we'll have a feast. But, first, I've got some news for you," and he proceeded to relate his unexpected, but perfectly simple, finding of the relatives he had come so far to seek.
"It's just like when once I found a whole lot of scrap iron I wasn't expecting," declared Henry Darby, and then he wondered why Dick and the others laughed, hastening to explain, as soon as he saw the joke, that he had no intention of comparing the young millionaire's relatives to iron junk.
While the boys were discussing the strange outcome of the affair, Widdy was busy with the steaming of the clams. In a short time an appetizing aroma filled the air, which caused the boys to inquire anxiously when the "shore-dinner," as they dubbed it, would be ready.
They ate in rather primitive fashion, with fingers doing duty for knives and forks, but they all said they had never tasted any better clams, though there was no drawn-butter to dip them into.
THEY ATE IN RATHER PRIMITIVE FASHION, WITH FINGERS
DOING DUTY FOR KNIVES AND FORKS.—Page 228.