"So we can have a better appet.i.te for the turkey we brought along.
Fellows, don"t you think we"d better eat that turkey to-day? It may not keep."
"Turkey?" blurted Hen Dutcher, his eyes dancing with antic.i.p.ated pleasure. "I didn"t know you had any grub as fine as that."
"I"ve been thinking," proposed Prescott, "that we might as well have some of that turkey for breakfast this morning."
"Why, is it already cooked?" cried Hen.
"Oh, no," d.i.c.k admitted.
"Then let"s have something else for breakfast and keep the turkey until noon," suggested Dutcher. "I can"t wait for my breakfast."
"What do you fellows say?" asked d.i.c.k, putting it to a vote, but ignoring Hen. "Shall it be turkey for breakfast?"
"Turkey!" solemnly voted five Grammar School boys.
"I call it a shame to treat a fellow like this," grumbled Hen. "To make a fellow wait so long for his breakfast when he"s starving to death!"
But none of the others gave any sign that they heard. d.i.c.k went to a shelf on which lay many packages of the food they had brought with them two days before. d.i.c.k took down a plain little wooden box and stepped to the table.
"Put on about eight eggs, and boil "em hard, will you, Greg?" d.i.c.k asked. "Tom might tackle the coffee-making this morning. Dan and Harry can get potatoes ready."
"But where"s the turkey, then?" queried Hen, watching d.i.c.k as he opened the box.
"Right here," proclaimed young Prescott, removing the lid.
"Why, that"s--that"s codfish, salted and dried!" exploded Hen.
"Well, isn"t codfish Cape Cod turkey?" demanded Reade, with a grin.
"Is that the only kind of turkey you have with you?" asked Hen.
"The only kind," smiled d.i.c.k. "Don"t you like codfish, Hen?"
"Not a little bit," grumbled Dutcher.
"Then you can cut out breakfast, and you"ll have a fine appet.i.te at noon," offered Dan consolingly.
"It seems to me that you fellows use me as meanly as you know how,"
flared Hen. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves."
"We are," Tom a.s.sured the grumbler.
Though the codfish should have been soaked over night, d.i.c.k accomplished much the same effect by repeatedly scalding it. Then he put it on to cook in boiling water, and next made a flour sauce in the way that his mother had patiently taught him. The hard boiled eggs, after being cooled in cold water, were sliced up and put over the dish when it was ready. This, with potatoes, bread and b.u.t.ter and weak coffee with condensed milk, made a meal that satisfied all hands. Hen didn"t like the meal, but he ate more of it than any one else.
"What are we going to do to-day for fun?" Dan wanted to know as breakfast drew to a close.
"Shovel paths and stock up with water and firewood, I guess," smiled d.i.c.k.
"Pshaw! I"m sorry it has to be all work, and that we can"t have any fun," remarked Harry Hazelton. "I"ve just been longing to go hunting and get a rabbit for a stew."
"We"ll be here for days and days yet," answered d.i.c.k. "I guess we"ll be able to find plenty of fun before our camping frolic is over."
"It"s fun, just being here and living this way," Darrin declared.
Something beat against one of the windows, causing the boys to look around curiously.
"Just a twig blown off from some tree," declared Tom.
"Is it?" floated back from Greg, who had leaped up and was now hurrying toward the window in question. "It"s a pigeon--that"s what it is. And the poor thing looks perishing, too."
In truth Mr. Pigeon did seem to be about spent. The poor thing huddled against the sash, as if trying to shelter itself from the biting wind and the fine dust of blown snow.
"Bring the tea-kettle, some one," called Greg, and d.i.c.k did so.
"Pour the water on so that I can get the window open," Greg directed.
"Just enough to soften the ice so that the sash will move back. Be careful not to let any of the hot water scald the pigeon"s feet."
Working gently, in order not to alarm the spent bird, d.i.c.k and Greg soon had the window open, and Greg drew in the all but frozen little flyer.
"Say, we can have pigeon stew, or pie, if anyone knows how to make a pie," cried Hen Dutcher.
"You scoundrel!" breathed Greg fiercely. "Your stomach makes a brute of you, Hen Dutcher!"
"Oh, what"s the sense of being silly about nothing but just a bird?"
insisted Hen.
"I"ll fight any fellow who proposes eating this poor little wayfarer,"
announced Greg.
"Whatcher getting mad about?" snapped Hen. "Pigeons are made just for eating, and we can----"
"Hold this bird, Dan," urged Greg, pa.s.sing the pigeon to Dalzell and stepping briskly toward Hen, who, alarmed, retreated, protesting:
"Huh! What are you getting red headed about? Can"t you stand a joke?"
"I don"t like your style of jokes," retorted Greg, stopping the pursuit.
"Don"t let me hear any more of "em."
"In fact, Hen," added Tom, "your continued silence would be the finest thing you could do for us."
"See here!" called Dan. "This is one of our own pigeons--right out of dad"s cote. This is the speckled one we call "t.i.t-bit.""
"Say, that seems almost like a letter from home, doesn"t it?" asked d.i.c.k, his face beaming. "We"ll give our friend the best we have. Put the little fellow in a box, in some soft stuff, not too close to the fire, Dan. And I"ll start to boil some of the corn meal. That"ll make good food for the little chap when he"s feeling more like himself."
In less than half an hour Mr. Pigeon was feeling vastly better. He now hopped about the place, using his wings every now and then in a short flight. Dan was the only one who could get near the little creature now. So it was Dalzell who caught the pigeon and fed it its breakfast of corn meal mush when it was ready.
Soon after the pigeon took to flying more and more. He seemed attracted towards the windows, flying straight at them three or four times.