The first business transacted was the welcoming of Paul and Dudley into the Pentagoet Tribe, as they were being transferred from the Grey Fox Band started by Mrs. Remington the previous winter for the Baker boys and their friends. The two boys did not have to take an initiation again as that had been attended to at the founding of the Grey Foxes.
Then came the awarding of Honours. The two Georgia boys were quite surprised by the businesslike way in which the coups were claimed and joined in the chorus of “Hows” as Wita-Tonkan presented the coveted coup feathers, symbolic of attainment.
When Edith was called upon she replied: “Oh Chief! I want to claim my coups when papa is present.”
“So do I, Oh Chief!” asserted Elizabeth, so the entertainment continued with various challenges—the visitors taking part in hand-wrestling, tub-tilting, and racing, to their great satisfaction. Shelby Jordan introduced a new stunt called “Japanese Cane-crawling” and it proved to be a popular game.
It was nearly supper time when the Council closed and the boys heard Mose ring the bell. The Isola Bella contingent said good-bye and were soon on the homeward sail while the Islanders hastened to avail themselves of the call to supper.
Having two Southern boys present to appreciate his culinary skill, Mose outdid himself. The spoon-bread and molasses and cocoanut pie vanished that night like dew before a morning sun.
Two extra cots were placed in Fred’s sibley-teepee and the visitors had the unusual experience of undressing and going to bed before a little fire in the centre of the tent: a comfort not to be despised on a cool Maine night.
On the morrow a little southwest breeze was blowing and the boys all hurried off to the trawl, Shelby and Henry disguised in old trousers and sweaters found in the “slop-chest,” as the closet back of the living-room was termed.
When the boat reached the mooring buoy Shelby asked, “What do you call that craft?” indicating an old patched-sail lumberman that was tacking across the water toward Sunset Island.
“That’s a two-masted schooner,” replied Billy. “Isn’t she a beauty? Guess she’s old enough to vote.”