They were not as a rule quarrelsome, but - .
* * * * *
"Good morning, Phineas. I have brought your grub from Auburn, and here
is the bill."
It was a bright day in June and Phineas Longley, tollkeeper for the new
suspension bridge on Whiskey Bar, had had a busy morning. There was a
barbecue that day at the town on the other side, and a stream of people
had come down the Whiskey Bar turnpike and crossed the bridge. It was
getting warm and he was tired, and he read the bill gloomily:
"1 bottle gin, $6.00; 2 lbs. biscuits, $2.50; 1 ham, $24.00; 1 bottle
pickles, $6.00; 4 fathoms rope, $5.00; 1 watermelon, $4.00; 1 tin pan,
$16.00; 2 apples, $3.00."
Longley stuffed the bill in his pocket, and returned for his noon meal
to his log cabin on shore.
It was quite palatial - boasting a real floor made of puncheons, or hewn
logs. A bunk, against the wall, was made of a second log set four feet
from the log wall, with a hammock mattress of sacking stuffed with dried
bracken stretched between them. There was the usual huge fireplace of
granite rocks used for both warmth and cooking, and a box
pantry-cupboard nailed to the wall.
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