Page:The Secret of the Caves.djvu/131

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
"Go Away!"
125

had any canned beans. Perhaps we could trade."

"That's not a bad idea," said Chet. "There are other things we need."

"I have some dried fish here," said the captain, "I have fish and a case of eggs and some other things. Go get those beans and we'll trade."

Chet hastened back to the other cave and returned in due time with the cans of beans, which the captain accepted with considerable delight. In exchange, the boys received some fish and two dozen eggs.

"I got the eggs off a boat yesterday," explained Captain Royal, "and I've been thinking ever since that it was foolish of me to buy a whole case, because they mightn't keep. I'd rather have canned beans any day."

When the exchange was effected, their host suddenly became silent and sat for a long time looking gloomily at the sand. The boys were wondering when the promised fish dinner was to put in its appearance. Apparently, Captain Royal had forgotten all about his invitation. Suddenly he looked up.

"Well," he demanded curtly, "what are you hanging around for, boys?"

They gazed at the man in surprise.

"Why—you asked us to stay," stammered Frank.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.