"Glenn, you rave!" ejaculated Carley, not knowing whether to laugh or be
grave. "You were talking of humble housewifely things."
"Precisely. The humble things that were the foundation of the great
nation of Americans. I meant work and children."
Carley could only stare at him. The look he flashed at her, the sudden
intensity and passion of his ringing words, were as if he gave her a
glimpse into the very depths of him. He might have begun in fun, but he
had finished otherwise. She felt that she really did not know this
man. Had he arraigned her in judgment? A flush, seemingly hot and cold,
passed over her. Then it relieved her to see that he had returned to his
task.
He mixed the shortening with the flour, and, adding water, he began
a thorough kneading. When the consistency of the mixture appeared to
satisfy him he took a handful of it, rolled it into a ball, patted and
flattened it into a biscuit, and dropped it into the oven he had set
aside on the hot coals. Swiftly he shaped eight or ten other biscuits
and dropped them as the first. Then he put the heavy iron lid on the
pot, and with a rude shovel, improvised from a flattened tin can, he
shoveled red coals out of the fire, and covered the lid with them. His
next move was to pare and slice potatoes, placing these aside in a pan.
A small black coffee-pot half full of water, was set on a glowing
part of the fire. Then he brought into use a huge, heavy knife, a
murderous-looking implement it appeared to Carley, with which he cut
slices of ham. These he dropped into the second pot, which he left
uncovered. Next he removed the flour sack and other inpedimenta from the
table, and proceeded to set places for two--blue-enamel plate and cup,
with plain, substantial-looking knives, forks, and spoons. He went
outside, to return presently carrying a small crock of butter. Evidently
he had kept the butter in or near the spring. It looked dewy and cold
and hard. After that he peeped under the lid of the pot which contained
the biscuits. The other pot was sizzling and smoking, giving forth
a delicious savory odor that affected Carley most agreeably. The
coffee-pot had begun to steam. With a long fork Glenn turned the slices
of ham and stood a moment watching them. Next he placed cans of three
sizes upon the table; and these Carley conjectured contained sugar,
salt, and pepper. Carley might not have been present, for all the
attention he paid to her. Again he peeped at the biscuits. At the
edge of the hot embers he placed a tin plate, upon which he carefully
deposited the slices of ham. Carley had not needed sight of them to know
she was hungry; they made her simply ravenous. That done, he poured the
pan of sliced potatoes into the pot. Carley judged the heat of that
pot to be extreme. Next he removed the lid from the other pot, exposing
biscuits slightly browned; and evidently satisfied with these, he
removed them from the coals. He stirred the slices of potatoes round
and round; he emptied two heaping tablespoonfuls of coffee into the
coffee-pot.