Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-15
CHAPTER XII.
Eureka.

dry clothes Then we can talk business.
if the young lady is willing
The girl looked at him. Business is
what I'm here for" says she. (which
of You three is the quahaug one?''
THE which," says I. and the Heaven
lies both said the same.
(which of you is the quahaug one? I've
got some business to talk with him.
to his chum. ARE you a 'quahaug
one'?''
Il guess he is says l. 1 was begin
ming to see light. Hartleys claiming
cruise was turning out as I'd expected.
''Humph," says the girl. well you
made clean job. Lys says. About three
buckets and half. want they?"
You never see q man so puzzled as
Hartley. unless twas Van Bruht. They
looked at each other. at the girl, and then
at me. l explained.
Il judge twas this young woman's qua
haug bed that You and James cleaned out
t'other day I says. You remember |
told you we'd hear from them quahaugs
later
oh" says Martin. lawfully sorry.
I'm sure. l hope you'll permit me to
pay for
She bobbed the sunbonnet UP and down.
That's, what L come for says she.
They was my brothers Lycurgus' qua
haugs. He'd just bedded EN- Quahaugs
is worth a dollar a bucket this time of
year That's three dollars and a half. I
won't charge you for the sticks, though
what on earth you done with them is
more'n 1 can make out. and Lys says the
same"
Van was grinning from ear to ear.
Tother Twin reached into his pocket and
fished out a sopping-wet pocketbook.
WIN the three fifty be sufficient" he
asks, troubled. I'm really very sorry.
1t was a mistake, and
''Oh, it's all right" says the girl You
n Dr. Ixyo hot a1c o,,d
children amt accountable. You'd better
spread that money out to dry fore you
pay me with it. And you'd better get
dry yourself or you'll catch cold. l can
wait spell, 1 guess. Why don't you
go after your boat mister?" she says to
me. you'll lose it first thing you know
l looked where she pointed, and there
was the skiff stranded bottom up on the
tip end of the point fiat. l ran after 1t,
waded in and hauled it ashore. This
Heavenlies hurried up to the house. When
l come back the girl was waiting for
me-
"I'll walk along UP with YOU" she says.
Say. you're Solomon Pratt. amt you? l
heard about you. Nate Scudder told pa.
He said he'd let this place to Sol Pratt
and couple of crazy men from New
York. 1 thought sure you'd swear when
the boat upset, but you didn't. You must
belong to the chuch. What are you
Methodist?"
Srlnned 80 you tnlnk ouck1ng
like that would be apt to make man
swear. do you?" says /.
"Yup. if he hadn't got religion. Pa d
have cussed a blue streak. You'd ought
to hear him when he has his nervous
dyspepsy spells. Did you say you was a
Methodist?
Moo. l guess I didn't. Let's see. Did
you say your name was Dusenberry?"
She stopped and kind of fixed, like a
teakettle billing over. ''Sakes alive!" she
snaps. II hope not. Do 1 look as if 1
was carting a name like that around?
My names Sparrow-Eureka Florina
Sparrow. What's the matchmaking"
NO. not special. You kind of fetched
me up into the wind. striking me head on
so. unexpected. Just say that again and
say it slow. Eureka Peruna-what was
it,
She switched around and stared at
me hard. ''Eureka-Florina-S -"
says She slow and distinct Want me
to spell it for you?"
NO. thanks. You might mix me up
some if you did. l had to leave school
early. Any more in your family?"
''Yup. Seven of us. counting me-and
pa makes eight
whats their names?''
"Well. there Lycurgus and Editha and
Ulysses and NAPOLEON and Marguerite
and Dewey-he's the baby. Great names.
amt they? Pas doings. naming EN- that
way was. Pa says there's nothing like
hitching a grand name to a young one;
gives 'em something to live up to. he says.
His own names Washington but he amt
broke his back living up to it. fairs as
can see: and ma used to say the same
afore she died"
"O-o-h." says l. Il see" I knew who
she was now. I hadn't lived around Well
mouth so very long. but I'd heard of
tie slab shanty off in the woods about a
mile from Scudders. and had the name OF
being the LATEST man in town.
We'd reached the house by this time.
and / left Eureka Florina in the kitchen
and went to my room to change my buds.
When ! come down the Twins was in the
kitchen. too. and I could hear the Spar
row girls tongue going like house afire.
Martin had just paid her for the qua
haugs and she was telling how scarce
they'd got to be in the bay. and how ner
brother had worked to get a few bedded,
and how he'd sold a couple Of quarts to
the Baptist minister's wife, and what she
said about 'em, and SO on. The Heaven
lies seemed to be enjoying every minute
of it, judging by the way they laughed.
Introduce us to the lady, skipper.
says Van. when l come in.
l done the honors. shes one of Washy
Sparrows tribe-I mean family" says L.
They live over in the woods here
abouts.'
81 guess tribe'l do says Eureka, cut
ting in quick. There's pretty near
enough of us to make a town. seems
sometimes. You'd think SO If you had to
get meals for 'em, same's l do.
your says 1. do you cook for all
that gang? How old are you?"
Seventeen last March. Cook for EN-?
Guess 1 do, And scratch to get things
to cook too: else we'd have to live on
salt air pudding with wind sass. 1 take
in washing. and Lycurgus he goes fishing
and claiming and choring around. and
Editha helps me iron. and we all take
watch and watch looking out for the
young ones"
Hartley spoke then. We're looking
for a cook he says. will you come
and cook for us. and help about the
house here? Mr.. Pratt finds the job too
big for one man..
She bobbed her head. "Yup" says She
dry as a chip. Il should think he might
Judging by what I've seen. No. I can't
come. I've got to stay home and look
out for the folks
''Why can't your father do that?" asks
Hartley.
.'Who-pa? 1 guess you amt heard
about pa He's sick. Got his never-get-
over. he says. Pas had most every kind
of symptom there is: phthisic and influ-
ency and lumbago and pleurisy. Now
he's settled down to consumption and
nervous dyspepsy. Afore ma died she
used to try ito cure him. but the doctor
and pa had row. The doctor said pa
didn't have consumption nor nothing else;
what ha uaaded WAS hard ayarcice enDb