"We're out on a picnic to-day," he explained, "and we want a little something to eat; a kind of lunch, you know."
The storekeeper took a sugar-scoop out of a barrel and leaned on it for a minute, looking at the crowd that filled the space between his counters as if uncertain whether they were friends or foes.
"Well," he said finally, "wha' do ye want? We've got crackers an' cheese, an' that's about all we hev got that'll go around among ye."
"Well, boys," inquired Brede, "what do you say? Shall we have crackers and cheese?"
Every one assented, and the captain turned again to the storekeeper.
"How do you sell your crackers and cheese?" he asked.
"Crackers is wuth a shillin' a pound, an' cheese is wuth two shillin'."
"Well, how many pounds do you think it'd take for us?"
"Oh, I don' know. S'pose you try ten pounds o' crackers an' a couple or three pounds o' cheese; an' if that aint enough, why, they's more here."
The crackers were weighed out and distributed, the cheese cut into small pieces and laid on the counters; and the hungry lads helped themselves so liberally that it was not a great while before a fresh supply was called for. Brede paid for the lunch with an important air, and the storekeeper, who had hitherto appeared as if fearful that he was contracting a bad debt, suddenly relaxed into good humor, and put on a more hospitable manner.
"Anything else I can git for ye, young gentlemen?" he asked.
Plumpy responded. "We'd like a little after-dinner coffee," he said soberly, "and some nuts and fruit; and I desire to remind you, as delicately as possible, that you have forgotten to furnish us with napkins and finger-bowls."
For a moment the storekeeper looked puzzled, but the shouts and laughter of the other boys soon convinced him that nothing more was really required.
A straw hat was voted to Patchy, and purchased with money from the common fund; then the question arose again: What should be done next? Some of the boys, Brightly among the number, were in favor of turning back up the road toward Riverpark. They calculated that it would be almost time for retreat before they could reach there, if they should start immediately. This plan might have prevailed had not the storekeeper, anxious to find favor in the eyes of his customers, made a suggestion which met with their immediate and hearty approval.