But I seed 'em gittin' ready fur dinner as I
comed erlong, an' you chil'en better be er gittin' toerds de table."
That was enough for the little folks, and they hurried back to the
creek. The table was formed by driving posts into the ground, and
laying planks across them, and had been fixed up the day before by
some of the men. The dinner was excellent-- barbecued mutton and shote
and lamb and squirrels, and very fine "gumbo," and plenty of
vegetables and watermelons and fruits, and fresh fish which the
negroes had caught in the seine, for none of the anglers had been
successful.
Everybody was hungry, for they had had very early breakfast, and,
besides, it had been a fatiguing day, for most of the negroes had
walked the three miles, and then had danced and played games nearly
all the morning, and so they were ready for dinner. And everybody
seemed very happy and gay except Mammy; she had been so upset at the
children's torn dresses and dirty faces that she could not regain her
good-humor all at once; and then, too, Dumps had lost her sun-bonnet,
and there were some unmistakable freckles across her little nose, and
so Mammy looked very cross, and grumbled a good deal, though her
appetite seemed good, and she did full justice to the barbecue.
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