"Diamonds." Ramsay grinned.
"Well, it ain't. It's salt."
"What the blazes will anyone do with so much salt?"
"Eat it," the deck hand grunted. "People hereabouts like salt." Then he,
too, grinned. "Naw, it's for fishermen. They got to have somethin' to
salt their catches in."
"Oh. I see."
Ramsay added this bit of information to the lore he had already
gathered. Obviously fishing consisted of more than just catching fish.
Actually taking the fish, of course, was the most exciting and romantic
part. But the fishermen could not ply their trade at all without women
like Madame LeDou who made their nets, a shop like the Three Points'
cooper's shop which provided the barrels into which the fish were
packed, or vessels like the _Brilliant_ which brought salt that kept the
fish from spoiling.
Ramsay stayed on the pier until the _Brilliant_ was unloaded, and
licked his lips while he watched her crew eating thick sandwiches. They
took a whole loaf of bread, sliced it lengthwise, packed the center with
meat, cheese, fish and anything else they could lay their hands on, and,
according to their taste, washed it down with cold lake water or beakers
of whisky. Ramsay looked away.
Madame LeDou had provided him with a substantial breakfast, but this was
an invigorating country wherein one soon became hungry again. Ramsay
patted his empty stomach.
Probably Madame LeDou would give him something to eat should he go back
there, but he had already posed enough problems for the LeDous. Besides,
he did not like the idea of asking for food. He left the pier to walk
past the Lake House, Three Points' only hotel. Savory odors of cooking
food wafted to his nostrils and made him drool. He walked past the Lake
House, then turned to walk back. He trotted up the steps and sat down at
a table spread with a white cloth.
A hard-eyed woman, wearing a brown dress over which she had tied a neat
white apron, came up to him. Ramsay leaned back. He had decided to make
his play, and he might as well play it to the end.
"What does the menu offer?" he asked almost haughtily.
"Whitefish at fifteen cents, venison at fifteen cents, a boiled dinner
at ten cents."
"What? No steak?"
"The steak dinner," the woman said, "costs thirty cents. With it you get
potatoes, coffee, salad and apple pie."
"Bring it to me," Ramsay said. "And please be prompt. My time is
valuable."
"As soon as possible," the woman said.
Ramsay relaxed in his chair. A half-hour later the waitress brought him
a broiled sirloin, so big that it overflowed the platter on which it
rested. There were crisp fried potatoes, coffee--a rare beverage in this
country--cream, a salad and a huge wedge of apple pie. Ramsay ate
hungrily, then the waitress approached him.
"Will you pay now?"
"It is a lot," said Ramsay, who could not have swallowed another crust,
"to pay for such a puny meal."
"I told you the price before you ordered."
"It doesn't matter," Ramsay waved a languid hand. "Especially since I
have no money. What do we do now?"
Ramsay stood in the kitchen of the Lake House, and by the light of an
oil lamp piled the last of what had been a mountain of dishes, into warm
water. There must, he thought, have been thousands of them, but there
were only a few more and he dropped one of those. Instantly the woman
who had served him popped into the kitchen.
"Must you be so clumsy?"
"It is the only dish I have broken out of all I have washed," Ramsay
said. "Don't you think I have paid off my dinner by this time?"
"You knew the price before you ordered."
"The way you've had me working since, I earned the whole cow. Haven't I
repaid you, with perhaps a bonus of a sandwich for supper?"
"Sit down, kid," the woman said gruffly.
She brought him a sandwich, huge slices of fluffy homemade bread between
which thick slices of beef nestled, and a bowl of milk. Ramsay ate
hungrily, and after he had finished his hostess talked to him. "You're
the youngster Devil Chad beat up, aren't you?"
"I tripped," Ramsay said grimly.
"Devil Chad trips 'em all. You're crazy if you think you can get away
with anything. Best thing you can do is leave."