Well, after three days' trying he finally managed to
get simple--he just couldn't believe I meant it at first, and kept
building on the whipped cream--and the thing cost eight dollars, but
you can bet he had me, even then; the bonehead smarty had sweetened
the cream and grated nutmeg into it. I give up.
"And if you can't get right food in New York, how can you expect to
here? And Jackson, the idiot, has just fired the only real cook in Red
Gap. Yes, sir; he's let the coons go. It come out that Waterman had
sneaked out that suit of his golf clothes that Kate Kenner wore in the
minstrel show, so he fired them both, and now I got to support 'em,
because, as long as we're friends here, I don't mind telling you I
egged the coon on to do it."
I saw that she was referring to the black and his wife whom I had met
at the New York camp, though it seemed quaint to me that they should
be called "coons," which is, I take it, a diminutive for "raccoon," a
species of ground game to be found in America.
Truth to tell, I enjoyed myself immensely at this simple but
satisfying meal, feeling myself one with these homely people, and I
was sorry when we had finished.
"That was some little dinner itself," said the Mixer as she rolled a
cigarette; "and now you boys set still while I do up the dishes.
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