Jiggins went back with the others, and finished the clams. All were silent except Jiggins, who, every little while, would solemnly shake his head, and slowly ejaculate-- “It was _not_ right. No, boys, it was _not_ right. I felt so, for I had my doubts about it all the time.” One thing surprised Mrs. Pratt when she was administering to Pat’s woes on the bank; and that was, the very savory smell of that clam stew which was simmering in a pot behind the bushes. She could not understand it, but concluded that it must be some great delicacy among the vessel’s stores lying on the bank, which had so very fragrant an odor. Afterward, when her mind was less preoccupied,--when Pat had been well rubbed, and poulticed, and blistered, and plied with herb tea, and all those other medicaments which the “medicine women” of the rural districts love so well; after all this had been attended to, then she began to think once more about that fragrant odor. And gradually, as she thought about it, there arose in her mind a conjecture as to what that odor might have arisen from; and the conjecture gathered itself inseparably around the idea of--“clams.” To Mrs. Pratt that thought was a momentous one. For what did that involve? It meant that there was danger abroad,--danger which impended over the young charges committed to her, and which she must counteract. It meant that some of them had been eating clams in the month of May--an act which, in her estimation, might produce consequences which could only be called terrible. In the face of this great possible danger, Mrs. Pratt gathered herself up, and prepared to meet it boldly. Already all her doctoring instincts had been roused into full play by the case of Pat, and having begun a good work, it was not easy to stop abruptly. She had got her hand in, as the saying is, and she wanted to finish her work. It did not take long for her to come to the stern conclusion that the work must be fully completed. So she first of all brought forth her little store of medicaments of all kinds, and ranged them on the kitchen table. They presented a formidable show. There were,-- 1 bottle Mint tea. 1 “ Essence of peppermint. 1 “ Ginger extract. 1 “ Cayenne pepper extract. 1 “ Paregoric. 1 “ Rum and onions. 1 “ Sulphur and molasses. 1 “ Sour cream. 1 “ Eye wash. 1 “ Pratt’s pain killer.. 1 “ Hemlock water. 1 “ Tar water. 1 “ Poppy juice. 1 “ Essence of smoko. 1 “ Brandy and salt. 1 “ Castor oil. 1 “ Camomile water. 1 “ Mineral water. 1 “ Pratt’s antidote. 1 “ Hair wash. 1 “ Ear wash. 1 “ Toothache drops. 1 “ Creosote. 1 “ Rowland’s Macassar oil. 1 “ Cocoaine.