THE EMPTY HUT
"Listen to the poets," jibed Bill. "Homer and Milton have nothing on
them."
"Don't mind his knocking, Ross," said Teddy. "He's only envious because
he can't rise to our heights. He's like that fellow that Wordsworth
tells 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'd
ask whether it was good to eat."
"What is this anyway?" laughed Fred. "It sounds like elocution day at
Rally Hall."
"Talking about eats," chimed in Lester, "what's the matter with getting
our stuff off the boat before it gets dark? Mark will have plenty of
fish with him when he gets back, and with what we can supply we ought to
be able to get up a nifty little supper."
"Count me in on this," said Ross. "I've got quite a cargo of supplies on
the _Sleuth_, and we'll all chip in together."
"The more the merrier," cried Lester, accepting the offer. "I imagine
Mark doesn't have much variety in his diet, and we'll see that to-night
at 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 to
loosen up and tell us all he knows."
"I wish we had a Chinaman along," remarked Fred. "We'd get him to make
us a soup out of the shark's fins."
"We'll try it ourselves if we get hard up," laughed Ross, "but it seems
to me we've got our money's worth out of the shark already, without
taxing him any further."
They waded out to the boats and ransacked the lockers, returning loaded
with coffee and bacon and beans and eggs and jams, the sight of which
added a spur to their already lively appetites.
"That looks like Mark's boat out there now," observed Lester, as he
straightened up and surveyed the sea.
He pointed to a tiny catboat coming in at a spanking gait, and that
seemed to be headed directly for that part of the beach where the boys
stood.
"At the rate he's coming, he'll be here in fifteen minutes," Lester
announced a moment later.
"What's the matter with having supper all ready when the old man gets
in?" chuckled Fred. "It'll pay for using his tools, and it will give him
the surprise of his life."
"Good thing!" exclaimed Lester heartily. "The poor old chap doesn't get
many 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 transformed
the interior of the little hut in a twinkling. Fred lighted a fire in
the rusty stove, Bill cut up some wood for fuel, Ross brought water for
the coffee from a neighboring spring, Teddy cleared the litter of odds
and ends off the rough pine table and set out the eatables, while Lester
fried the bacon, warmed the beans and made the coffee. Everything, even
down to salt and sugar, had come from their own stores, so that Mark's
meagre stock was not drawn upon for anything. A fluffy omelet finished
Lester's part of the work, and when Ross produced a big apple pie that
his landlady had given him to take along that morning, the boys stood
off and viewed their handiwork with pride.
"It makes one's mouth water," said Teddy, who claimed to be an expert
where 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, "for
here he comes now."
The boys ran out to greet the returning master of the house, who had
rounded the point into the sheltered bay and was fast approaching the
beach. He had already noticed the two boats lying side by side and
surmised that he had visitors. He looked at the boys curiously and waved
his hand to Lester in friendly fashion.
Then his boat claimed all his attention. With surprising agility for one
so 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, loosed
the rope that held it and with a few deft pulls at the oars rowed in
until he grounded on the beach. The boys ran forward and drew the boat
far up on the sands above the high water mark, while Lester shook hands
with 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 a
bunch of my friends over to see you."
"I take it kindly of yer," said Mark. "I get a leetle lonesome here all
by myself, an' it heartens me up a bit ter git a sight of young
critters. Out on a fishin' trip, I s'pose?"
The boys had crowded round them by this time, and Lester introduced them
to the old fisherman, who shook hands heartily, albeit rather awkwardly.
"Yes," said Lester, when this ceremony was finished, answering Mark's
last question, "we are on a fishing trip, but we're fishing for
information 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 have
it. 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's
awfully nervy to plump ourselves down on you this way without any
warning and without being invited. But if you can take care of us for
the 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 the
stranded body of the shark. He stopped short in amazement.
"Sufferin' cats!" he shouted. "Where in the world did that thing come
from?"
"He didn't come of his own accord," laughed Fred. "We picked him up and
brought him along."
"Do yer mean ter tell me that you youngsters caught him all by
yerselves?" asked Mark, looking from one to the other in incredulous
astonishment.
"That's what we did," replied Teddy. "That is, we all had a part in
hooking him, and then Lester, here, finished the job with his father's
harpoon."
"Les, ye're a chip of the old block," cried Mark delightedly. "Yer pa
was one of the best harpooners thet ever sailed from these parts an' ye
sure have got his blood in yer ter do a man-sized job like this. A
mighty good job it is too, fer I don't know when these fellers has been
more troublesome than they've been this year, what with sp'ilin' the
nets an' scarin' away the fish."
He walked around the body, giving vent to muttered exclamations of
wonder and satisfaction, and the boys had a chance to study him more
closely than they had yet been able to do.
He was a wizened, dried-up little man, not much more than five feet in
height. His shoulders were bent with the infirmities of age--they judged
him to be over seventy--but his movements were spry, and they had
already seen by the way he handled his boat that he was not lacking in
dexterity. There was a suspicious redness about his nose that was
explained by Lester's hint about his fondness for a certain black
bottle. But his eyes were friendly and free from guile, and the simple
cordiality with which he had welcomed them to his scanty fare showed
that his heart was kindly.
He found it hard to tear himself away from gloating over the body of the
shark--the shark he hated with the hatred of all the members of his
calling--but he recalled himself at last to the duties of hospitality.
"Waal, I swan!" he ejaculated. "Here I am wastin' time on this
cantankerous old pirate when I ought ter be hustlin' around ter get you
boys some grub."
The boys could see a growing perplexity in the old fellow's kindly face
as 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 to
the cabin and we'll pitch in and help."
They reached the door, and as Mark's eyes fell upon the crowded table,
and as the fragrant odor of the coffee and the other good things
assailed his nostrils, he gave vent to an exclamation of astonishment
and relief that was lost in the roar of laughter that burst from the
boys.
"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' ye
anythin' 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 much
fish 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 to
fill up on what you see before you and tell us what you think of our
cook."
"I'll do that right enough," said Mark, "an' ef it tastes as good as it
smells an' looks, there ain't one of you youngsters that will stow away
more than I kin."
They installed him at the head of the table in the one chair that the
cabin boasted, while they disposed themselves around on boxes and
whatever else would serve as seats. Their surroundings were of the
rudest kind but the fare was ample and their appetites keen and there
was an atmosphere of mirth and high spirits that made full amends for
whatever was lacking in the way of what Teddy called frills. Mark
renewed his youth in the unaccustomed company of so many young lads, and
ate as he had not eaten for many a day or year.
They did not broach the object of their visit until the meal was
finished and the remnants cleared away. Then they adjourned to the beach
in front of the cabin, where Mark filled his pipe and tilted back in his
chair against the front of the shack, while the boys threw themselves
down on the sand around him.
"Well, Mark," began Lester, when, with his pipe drawing well, the old
fisherman beamed on them all in rare good humor, "I suppose you've been
wondering what we mean by coming down and taking you by storm in this
way."
"I'd like ter be taken by storm that way a mighty sight oftener than I
be," returned Mark. "But sence yer speak of it, I am a leetle mite
curious as ter what yer wanted with an old fisherman like me."
"It's about something that happened nine or ten years ago," went on
Lester. "Do you remember the time you picked up a man in an open boat
off this coast somewhere?"
Mark was attentive in an instant.
"I'll never forgit it," he declared emphatically. "I never was so sorry
fur a feller-bein' in all my life as I was fur him."
"This is his son," said Lester, indicating Ross.