Hop-beer was set in canvas water bags to
keep it cool; and Cheon pointing out that the approach from the kitchens
was not all that could be desired, an enormous tent-fly was stretched
away from the roof of the verandah, extending it half-way to the kitchen,
and further greenery was used, decorating it within and without to make
it a fitting passage-way for the transport of Cheon's triumphs. Then
Cheon's kitchen decorations were renewed and added to; and after that
further suggestions suggested and attended to. Everything that could be
done was done, and by eight o'clock all was ready for Cheon's triumphs,
all but our appetites and time of day.
By nine o'clock Mac and Tam had arrived, and after everything had been
sufficiently admired, we trooped in a body to the kitchen, obedient to a
call from Cheon.
Triumph after triumph was displayed, and after listening gravely and
graciously to our assurances that already everything was "more better'n
Pine Creek last year," Cheon allowed us a glimpse of the pudding through
a cloud of steam, the company standing reverently around the fire trench
in a circle, as it bent over the bubbling boiler; then scuttling away
before us like an old hen with a following of chickens, he led the way to
the waterbags, and asked our opinion on the hop-beer:
