One corner of each tent was curtained off for a bath-room, another
for a clothes-press, and there were a dozen devices for comfort, as
Dr. Winship was opposed to any more inconvenience than was strictly
necessary. Dr. and Mrs. Winship and little Dicky occupied one tent,
the boys another, and the girls a third.
When Bell, Polly, and Margery emerged from their tent on the second
morning, they were disagreeably surprised to see a large placard over
the front entrance, bearing the insolent inscription, 'Tent Chatter.'
They said nothing; but on the night after, a committee of two stole
out and glued a companion placard, 'Tent Clatter,' over the door of
their masculine neighbours. And to tell the truth, one was as well
deserved as the other; for if there was generally a subdued hum of
conversation in the one, there never failed to be a perfect din and
uproar in the other.
Under a great sycamore-tree stood the dining-table, which consisted
of two long, wide boards placed together upon a couple of barrels;
and not far away was the brush kitchen, which should have been a work
of art, for it represented the combined genius of American, Mexican,
and Chinese carpenters, Dr. Winship, Pancho, and Hop Yet having
laboured in its erection. It really answered the purpose admirably,
and looked quite like a conventional California kitchen; that is, it
was ten feet square, and contained a table, a stove, and a Chinaman.
The young people, by the way, had fought bitterly against the stove,
protesting with all their might against taking it.
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