And I laughed and nodded, and he went. And we heard a tremendous racket, and presently he came, bringing a box that was the fellow to Old Goodwin’s. Laughing, too, he set it down.
“There!” he said. “And now for the clams.” He looked at me. “Is there a fork for me? You must let me help.”
“Heaven forbid!” I said hastily. “You and Eve are the guests.”
And so Eve and he sat, while Old Goodwin helped me. And I took my fork and opened the smoking dome, and together we set upon the table corn and potatoes, both sweet and white, and a chicken and some fish and the lobsters; and last of all a great pan of clams. And the rest, upon the hot stones, I covered again with seaweed; but not deep, for soon we should want more clams—and more fish and another chicken, for here were three good men to eat them; and what three men can eat at a clambake is nothing less than a marvel. Eve did her part, too. And Old Goodwin, setting the things upon the table, was as pleased as Punch. And as I pitched the weed, again I heard Eve laughing.
“Now, who would believe,” she said, “that had not seen,”—
But Old Goodwin interrupted her cheerily. “Not a bit too much—not half enough,” he said.
So Eve and I sat side by side upon the bench, and the two Rich men sat opposite, on their boxes. And no sound was heard save the noise of the wind that whispered softly in the tree above, and the noise of the clam shells as they struck upon the ground among their fellows that had gone before. And if we spoke little or not at all, but only ate, we were merry at our eating, which, as I have heard, wards off dyspepsia. For dyspepsia abides not with them that are merry, but is mortally afraid of a laugh. And those two Rich men got to tilting back and forth upon their boxes—they had been too busy at the first—and, having eaten a prodigious quantity of clams and all things else, they fell a-laughing as they had been two boys; and they called for more clams. So I opened the bake again, and, behold, there were no clams left, not one, so that I marveled at it.
I must have looked blank with astonishment. “Now who would have supposed,” said I, “that we could have eaten them all? For I thought that I had had enough for six at least.”
At that Old Goodwin burst out laughing afresh. “If you could have seen your face, Adam! But never mind. No doubt we have eaten more than is good for us, as it is.”
“I am sure of that,” I observed. And the two Rich men, filled full of lobster and corn and clams, did but laugh again, and they tilted upon their boxes. And I was filled full, too, but with content more than with clams, so that the wind that sighed in my pine sighed merrily.