CHAPTER XX
THE EMPTY HUT
"Listen to the poets," jibed Bill. "Homer and Milton have nothing onthem."
"Don't mind his knocking, Ross," said Teddy. "He's only envious becausehe can't rise to our heights. He's like that fellow that Wordsworthtells us about:
"'A primrose by the river's brim A yellow primrose was to him And nothing more.'"
"Well, what more was it?" grinned Bill, stubbornly holding his ground.
"A hopeless case," groaned Teddy. "If he heard a bobolink singing, he'dask whether it was good to eat."
"What is this anyway?" laughed Fred. "It sounds like elocution day atRally Hall."
"Talking about eats," chimed in Lester, "what's the matter with gettingour stuff off the boat before it gets dark? Mark will have plenty offish with him when he gets back, and with what we can supply we ought tobe able to get up a nifty little supper."
"Count me in on this," said Ross. "I've got quite a cargo of supplies onthe _Sleuth_, and we'll all chip in together."
"The more the merrier," cried Lester, accepting the offer. "I imagineMark doesn't have much variety in his diet, and we'll see that to-nightat least the old man has a bang-up meal."
"They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach,"observed Teddy, "and if we fill him up, he'll be all the more ready toloosen up and tell us all he knows."
"I wish we had a Chinaman along," remarked Fred. "We'd get him to makeus a soup out of the shark's fins."
"We'll try it ourselves if we get hard up," laughed Ross, "but it seemsto me we've got our money's worth out of the shark already, withouttaxing him any further."
They waded out to the boats and ransacked the lockers, returning loadedwith coffee and bacon and beans and eggs and jams, the sight of whichadded a spur to their already lively appetites.
"That looks like Mark's boat out there now," observed Lester, as hestraightened up and surveyed the sea.
He pointed to a tiny catboat coming in at a spanking gait, and thatseemed to be headed directly for that part of the beach where the boysstood.
"At the rate he's coming, he'll be here in fifteen minutes," Lesterannounced a moment later.
"What's the matter with having supper all ready when the old man getsin?" chuckled Fred. "It'll pay for using his tools, and it will give himthe surprise of his life."
"Good thing!" exclaimed Lester heartily. "The poor old chap doesn't getmany surprises--pleasant ones I mean--and it will warm his heart."
"To say nothing of his stomach," added the ever practical Bill.
The boys set to work with a zest, and five pairs of hands transformedthe interior of the little hut in a twinkling. Fred lighted a fire inthe rusty stove, Bill cut up some wood for fuel, Ross brought water forthe coffee from a neighboring spring, Teddy cleared the litter of oddsand ends off the rough pine table and set out the eatables, while Lesterfried the bacon, warmed the beans and made the coffee. Everything, evendown to salt and sugar, had come from their own stores, so that Mark'smeagre stock was not drawn upon for anything. A fluffy omelet finishedLester's part of the work, and when Ross produced a big apple pie thathis landlady had given him to take along that morning, the boys stoodoff and viewed their handiwork with pride.
"It makes one's mouth water," said Teddy, who claimed to be an expertwhere food was concerned.
"I can't wait," declared Bill. "I wish Mark had wings."
"He doesn't need them," replied Lester, looking out of the door, "forhere he comes now."
The boys ran out to greet the returning master of the house, who hadrounded the point into the sheltered bay and was fast approaching thebeach. He had already noticed the two boats lying side by side andsurmised that he had visitors. He looked at the boys curiously and wavedhis hand to Lester in friendly fashion.
Then his boat claimed all his attention. With surprising agility for oneso old, he did all that was necessary to lay it up snugly for the night.Then he clambered into a small rowboat that trailed at the stern, loosedthe rope that held it and with a few deft pulls at the oars rowed inuntil he grounded on the beach. The boys ran forward and drew the boatfar up on the sands above the high water mark, while Lester shook handswith the newcomer.
"How are you, Mark?" he said heartily.
"How be yer, Les?" responded the other with no less cordiality, "an'how's yer pa?"
"Dad's all right and so am I," was the answer. "You see I've brought abunch of my friends over to see you."
"I take it kindly of yer," said Mark. "I get a leetle lonesome here allby myself, an' it heartens me up a bit ter git a sight of youngcritters. Out on a fishin' trip, I s'pose?"
The boys had crowded round them by this time, and Lester introduced themto the old fisherman, who shook hands heartily, albeit rather awkwardly.
"Yes," said Lester, when this ceremony was finished, answering Mark'slast question, "we are on a fishing trip, but we're fishing forinformation more than for anything else."
"Information?" repeated Mark, taken a little aback. "Waal," he said,recovering himself, "ef there's anythin' I know, yer welcome ter haveit. What is it yer want ter know?"
"Lots of things," laughed Lester. "But they can wait till after supper.By the way, Mark, I suppose you'll let us stay to supper? I know it'sawfully nervy to plump ourselves down on you this way without anywarning and without being invited. But if you can take care of us forthe night and give us a bite to eat, we'll be mighty thankful."
"Sure I will," replied Mark warmly. "But yer'll have ter take pot luck.Come up ter the cabin an' I'll hunt yer up a snack of sumthin'."
The boys had been standing between him and their catch of the morning,but as they separated to go up to the shack he caught sight of thestranded body of the shark. He stopped short in amazement.
"Sufferin' cats!" he shouted. "Where in the world did that thing comefrom?"
"He didn't come of his own accord," laughed Fred. "We picked him up andbrought him along."
"Do yer mean ter tell me that you youngsters caught him all byyerselves?" asked Mark, looking from one to the other in incredulousastonishment.
"That's what we did," replied Teddy. "That is, we all had a part inhooking him, and then Lester, here, finished the job with his father'sharpoon."
"Les, ye're a chip of the old block," cried Mark delightedly. "Yer pawas one of the best harpooners thet ever sailed from these parts an' yesure have got his blood in yer ter do a man-sized job like this. Amighty good job it is too, fer I don't know when these fellers has beenmore troublesome than they've been this year, what with sp'ilin' thenets an' scarin' away the fish."
He walked around the body, giving vent to muttered exclamations ofwonder and satisfaction, and the boys had a chance to study him moreclosely than they had yet been able to do.
He was a wizened, dried-up little man, not much more than five feet inheight. His shoulders were bent with the infirmities of age--they judgedhim to be over seventy--but his movements were spry, and they hadalready seen by the way he handled his boat that he was not lacking indexterity. There was a suspicious redness about his nose that wasexplained by Lester's hint about his fondness for a certain blackbottle. But his eyes were friendly and free from guile, and the simplecordiality with which he had welcomed them to his scanty fare showedthat his heart was kindly.
He found it hard to tear himself away from gloating over the body of theshark--the shark he hated with the hatred of all the members of hiscalling--but he recalled himself at last to the duties of hospitality.
"Waal, I swan!" he ejaculated. "Here I am wastin' time on thiscantankerous old pirate when I ought ter be hustlin' around ter get youboys some grub."
The boys could see a growing perplexity in the old fellow's kindly faceas he tried to think how to feed such a hungry crew as he saw about him.
"Oh, anything will do," Lester hastened to assure him. "Come along up tothe cabin and we'll pitch in and help."
They reached the door, and as Mark's eyes fell upon the cro
wded table,and as the fragrant odor of the coffee and the other good thingsassailed his nostrils, he gave vent to an exclamation of astonishmentand relief that was lost in the roar of laughter that burst from theboys.
"Waal, I vum!" he exclaimed as soon as he could catch his breath.
"Some surprise party, eh Mark?" asked Lester.
"Yer could knock me down with a feather," the old fisherman replied."An' me a-rackin' my old noddle as ter how I was goin' ter giv' yeanythin' but fish."
"You're not going to taste of fish to-night," stated Teddy.
"Waal, that won't be no loss," grinned Mark delightedly. "I eat so muchfish that I'm expectin' almost any minnit I'll be sproutin' fins an'gills."
"This treat is all on us," affirmed Fred, "and all you have to do is tofill up on what you see before you and tell us what you think of ourcook."
"I'll do that right enough," said Mark, "an' ef it tastes as good as itsmells an' looks, there ain't one of you youngsters that will stow awaymore than I kin."
They installed him at the head of the table in the one chair that thecabin boasted, while they disposed themselves around on boxes andwhatever else would serve as seats. Their surroundings were of therudest kind but the fare was ample and their appetites keen and therewas an atmosphere of mirth and high spirits that made full amends forwhatever was lacking in the way of what Teddy called frills. Markrenewed his youth in the unaccustomed company of so many young lads, andate as he had not eaten for many a day or year.
They did not broach the object of their visit until the meal wasfinished and the remnants cleared away. Then they adjourned to the beachin front of the cabin, where Mark filled his pipe and tilted back in hischair against the front of the shack, while the boys threw themselvesdown on the sand around him.
"Well, Mark," began Lester, when, with his pipe drawing well, the oldfisherman beamed on them all in rare good humor, "I suppose you've beenwondering what we mean by coming down and taking you by storm in thisway."
"I'd like ter be taken by storm that way a mighty sight oftener than Ibe," returned Mark. "But sence yer speak of it, I am a leetle mitecurious as ter what yer wanted with an old fisherman like me."
"It's about something that happened nine or ten years ago," went onLester. "Do you remember the time you picked up a man in an open boatoff this coast somewhere?"
Mark was attentive in an instant.
"I'll never forgit it," he declared emphatically. "I never was so sorryfur a feller-bein' in all my life as I was fur him."
"This is his son," said Lester, indicating Ross.