We found there would be room for us to join their table, and that our company was welcome. Alas! alas! How can I describe the dinner? I do not mean the things we had to eat--fine eating was of little consequence if we could satisfy hunger; but the merry cheer was indescribable. It was the Professor (Dana) who sat at the head of the board. It was the brilliant and witty "Timekeeper" (Cabot) who was at one side, and when our party was added to them--"the Hero" (Butterfield), with his full, hearty and musical laugh; Glover (Drew) with his funny and apt quotations, and with the other four to six clear-headed fellows, not a dull one among them--the gamut of merriment ran to its highest notes. Of course the Professor couldn't help making a few remarks about the "object of our journey" and inquiries about the "success of the enterprise," and of course our party didn't answer in parliamentary language, but parried wit with wit, fun with fun, joke with joke. The story had to be told and embellished. The shirt, it was nothing but a rag, and the children were probably ragamuffins, and hot muffins at that! The robber, where could he be! Probably dead, for there was _berrying_ going on, and the children were continually _turning pail_. But the borrowing of the pistols was the occasion of the most absurdities. Was Glover _half cocked_ when he borrowed them? Did he _bear-ill_ against any man? Was he going to _brace_ up his courage? He wanted a little more _stock_ in hand, eh? It was the only way he had of getting a little "_pop_"! And if he had "popped" the robber would there have been any _pop-bier_ (beer) there? "If I had killed him," he said, "there wouldn't have been any _sham pain_." Pooh, pooh, you could only have _hocked_ him! "I would have made him _whine_ anyhow." You might have made him whine but--"_Wine butt_," did you say? (Interrupting). "Glover didn't intend to make any excitement, for where he took the pistols he left the _wholestir_ behind." "But when he took them," another said, "he thought he was going to _Needham_ (need 'um)." "Ah, no," said another, "when he took them he felt sure he was going to _Dedham_" (dead 'um). You will appreciate the difficulty I have in making any one realize the snap, the vivacity and the quickness of the repartees. Things that seem frivolous when written down----separate from all their connections, with the personality dropped out of them----with the connection unbroken; with youth, friendship and love to join them together, and all the surroundings in keeping, were lively and bright, and added a glow to the toil that made all the difficult surroundings easier to bear. The affair acted over to-day in sober earnest would hardly provoke a smile, but there most trivial incidents were worked up and the result was an increase of happiness for all. CHAPTER XI. THE GREAT CATASTROPHE.