HOME AGAIN. 275 



Mike said that a little island, with good company, was 

 better than a large one Avith bad company, and so we 

 complied with his wishes, though not knowing what he 

 meant. 



The unportant feature in our lunch was the pumpkin 

 that had been cooking all the previous night, and that 

 had been carefully carried in Jackson's canoe. As Rose 

 brought it up from the boat on her head, the Doctor 

 smiled, I laughed, and Lou looked eagerly forward, as a 

 child looks at an unopened Christmas box. 



"Take off the cover of Pandora's Box, Lou," said the 

 Doctor. 



" It won't come off, it's glued fast," said Lou, tugging 

 at the stem. 



*' Give me a chance," said Jackson, aiming a blow at 

 it with his hunting-knife, which did not produce any 

 impression on the shining surface. 



At length by the aid of a hatchet, it was split opeii, 

 and the interior revealed itself to our admiring eyes. 

 The pumpkin had baked soft, and imbibed the sugar 

 melted by the heat, and candied in irregular shaj^es, like 

 the interior of a crystallized rock hung with brilliants. 

 The steam was pendent from the sides in drops, and a 

 breath of sweets exhaled when opened that carried one's 

 mind back to the dinner-basket of childhood, and as each 

 one of the party jDossessed himself of a piece, and sat 

 munching away, we must have looked like so many mon- 

 keys regaling themselves in a melon patch. I becamo 

 poetical and repeated Whittier's lines. 



