There was no intention of letting the good man freeze to death, either, in a country where wood was to be had almost for the chopping. His wood-pile was a sight to see, a good hour before supper, and everybody knew there was more to come.
Corry explained it all to Porter.
"Yes, but he can"t eat hay and wood. You say he doesn"t get much money."
That was a little after they entered the house, and while Mrs. Farnham and Susie were talking with the elder"s kind-faced little wife.
"Eat!" said Corry. "You come right out here with me."
The sitting-room, back of the parlor, was a large one; but it was nearly half full of tables of all sorts and sizes, and these were covered with a feast of such liberal abundance that Porter gave it up at once.
"Even this crowd can"t finish all that in one evening, Corry. Will Elder Evans"s folks live on what"s left, for the rest of the year?"
"Come right along. Vosh is out here. He"s one of the receiving committee."
"What"s that?"
Corry led his cousin into the kitchen, and a funny-looking place it was.
Something like a dozen busy ladies were trying to get at the cook-stove all at the same time; and half as many more were helping Vosh Stebbins "keep track of things," as they were handed in at the side-door, and stowed around in all directions.
"That makes four bushels of onions," Port heard him say, as he and Corry entered the room. "They"re a healthy feed--but then!"
"One barrel of flour!" said a tall woman standing near him; "but then, there"s ten bushels of wheat."
"Three bags of meal, and twenty sacks of corn; fifteen bushels of turnips, twenty of potatoes; one dressed pig; a side of beef; two dozen chickens."
"Sam Jones has just driven in with another load of wood."
"And Mr. Beans, the miller at Cobbleville, has sent more buckwheat flour"n they can use if they settle down to livin" on flapjacks."
"Five muskrat-skins."
"Two kags of b.u.t.ter."
"Hold on," said Vosh, "till I get down the groceries. Jemimy! What"ll he do with so many tallow-dips? and there"s more dried apples and doughnuts."
It was indeed a remarkable collection, and Porter began to understand how a "way up country" minister gets his supplies.
"Port," said Corry a little while after that, "let"s go for our supper.
We want to be ready for the fun."
"What"ll that be?"
"Oh, you"ll see."
Susie had been making a dreadful mistake at that very moment; for she had asked old Mrs. Jordan, the minister"s mother-in-law, if they ever had any dancing at donation-parties. She told Port afterwards that the old lady looked pretty nearly scared to death, and that all she said was,--
"Dancing, child! Sakes alive!"
The house was swarming with young people as well as old, and it was of no manner of use for the leader of the Benton church choir to try and get them all to singing. A hymn or two went off well enough, and then they all listened pretty attentively while a quartet sang some glees. By that time, however, Vosh Stebbins had returned from the kitchen with his list all made up, and ready for the minister; and he said something to another young man, older than himself, but no taller, about "those charades." The music went to the wall, or somewhere else, in about a minute and a half.
Susie Hudson had never heard of one-half the games that followed after the charades. Some of these had been pretty good; but they were hardly noisy enough for the country boys and girls, and in due time were set aside like the music. There were forfeits of several kinds, anagrams, "kiss in the ring," and, after several other things had been proposed and tried, the parlor was given up to a royal game of blind-man"s-buff.
It was grand fun for the young people; but, while it went on, there seemed to be every bit as hungry a crowd as ever around the tables in the sitting-room. As fast as any one came out, somebody else went in.
"Deacon Farnham," said Vosh in an undertone, "I"ve seen that oldest Bean girl eat three suppers already."
"It"s a good thing there"s plenty."
"Biggest kind of a donation. Sile Hathaway"s just got here with two whole deer. Killed "em on the mountains yesterday."
The deacon brightened up a little as he responded, "Deer, eh? Well, the elder won"t starve, anyway."
Susie enjoyed herself exceedingly, but Pen told her,--
"It"s real good of you to laugh right out the way you do. They ain"t half so much afraid of you now as they were when you got here."
"Afraid of me, Pen?"
"Why, yes: you"re a city girl. They ain"t a bit afraid of me."
Vosh overheard that, and he added with a broad grin,--
"Fact, Susie. Half these fellows"d rather face a wildcat, any day, than a girl like you, right from the city."
Susie blushed and laughed, but it was a sort of explanation to her of some things she had noticed during the evening.
"Port," said Corry, "let"s go out and take a look at Sile Hathaway"s deer. One"s a buck, and one"s a doe, and they"re prime."
"Is he a hunter?"
"Guess he is. He"d rather hunt than earn a living, any day. But he"s about the best rifle-shot there is anywhere around here."
Port felt that such a man had a great claim to public respect, but he walked on without a word more until they were outside of the kitchen-door.
There on the snow lay the fat doe and the antlered buck, and it made Porter Hudson"s very fingers tingle to look on them.
"Where"d you get "em, Sile?" asked Corry.
"Not more"n a mile up this way from Mink Lake; jest whar the split comes in from towards the old loggin"-camp."
"How"d you get "em to the village?"
"Well, of course I had my pony along. Allers do. Made a pole-drag right thar. I had two more deer to fetch in, and they wasn"t more"n jest a good load for a drag."
He was a long, lanky, grizzled sort of man, with keen gray eyes, and a stoop in his shoulders.
"What"s a pole-drag?" asked Port.