Josiah was the first to retire from what seemed very like a contest, and then one by one the others fell out until the feast had come to an end.
Bill added to the illumination of the cabin by lighting the entire stock of candles, and then, as a fitting finale to the festival, produced a package of cigarettes.
“Don’t you smoke?” he asked, as Josiah refused the proffered tobacco.
“I promised mother I wouldn’t, so you see I can’t,” the boy from Berry’s Corner replied, and the other guests looked at each other as if they thought there was something comical in the reply; but no one ventured to laugh.
Josiah was the only member of the party who did not indulge in smoking; and the result was that in a short time the cabin, closed as it had been to prevent intrusion, was filled with the pungent odor, greatly to the annoyance of the boy from the country.
He did his best to hold out against the noisome vapor, lest by making a complaint he should bring the party, arranged in his honor, to an untimely end; but when the hosts lighted their second supply of cigarettes, it was impossible for him to remain silent.
“I guess while you fellers are smokin’ I’ll go up on deck, an’ look ’round. I never saw a canal-boat before, an’ this is a good chance.”
“Don’t feel sick, do you?” Tom asked solicitously.
“No, not exactly; but I’d rather go up-stairs.”
“Too much smoke here, that’s what’s the matter,” Bill Foss said pityingly, as if pained because the boy for whom the feast had been particularly prepared was not sufficiently hearty to indulge in the alleged pleasures of men of the world like himself.