“We are all out of food. There isn’t a crumb left, and starvation stares us in the face.”
“Ha! Did you expect to find food anywhere about here? Was this your object?”
“I don’t know. It was a desperate step to take. I have a rifle with me. I thought it possible I might come across a deer that would tide us over for a few days.”
“How large is your party?”
“There are only four of us.”
“All males?”
“Except one. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, and their son Tom, a young man, and myself constitute the party.”
“Whence did you come?”
“From Iowa.”
“I venture to say you have found what you did not expect.”