After the pot was emptied Dick washed it out, and put a little clean water in it. Then he poured some flour in, and stirred it well. While this was heating, he squeezed the sour grapes and plums into what Joe called a “mush,” mixed it with a spoonful of sugar, and emptied it into the pot. He also skimmed a quantity of the fat from the remains of the turkey soup, and added that to the mess, which he stirred with earnest diligence till it boiled down into a sort of thick porridge.
“D’ye think it’ll be good?” asked Joe gravely; “I’ve me doubts of it.”
“We’ll see. Hold the tin dish, Henri.”
“Take care of de fingers. Ha! it looks magnifique—superb!”
The first spoonful produced an expression on Henri’s face that needed not to be interpreted. It was as sour as vinegar.
“Ye’ll ha’ to eat it yerself, Dick, lad,” cried Joe, throwing down his spoon, and spitting out the unsavoury mess.
“Nonsense,” cried Dick, bolting two or three mouthfuls, and trying to look as if he liked it. “Try again; it’s not so bad as you think.”
“Ho—o—o—o—o!” cried Henri, after the second mouthful. “’Tis vinaigre. All de sugare in de pack would not make more sweeter one bite of it.”
Dick was obliged to confess the dish a failure, so it was thrown out after having been offered to Crusoe, who gave it one sniff and turned away in silence. Then they mounted and resumed their journey.
At this place mosquitoes and horse-flies troubled our hunters and their steeds a good deal. The latter—especially were very annoying to the poor horses. They bit them so much that the blood at last came trickling down their sides. They were troubled also, once or twice, by cockchafers and locusts, which annoyed them, not indeed by biting, but by flying blindly against their faces, and often narrowly missed hitting them in the eyes. Once particularly they were so bad, that Henri in his wrath opened his lips to pronounce a malediction on the whole race, when a cockchafer flew straight into his mouth, and, to use his own forcible expression, “nearly knocked him off de hoss.” But these were minor evils, and scarcely cost the hunters a thought.