"
Grandpa then laughed a little and showed his teeth.
"I was goin' to tell ye, Bachelder Lot, here," he went on; "he was a'
askin' Captain Sartell what kind o' fish them was that it's recorded in
the Scripters to 'a' fed the multitude, and then took up so many baskets
full o' leavin's; and the Captain told him that as to exactly what manner
of fish them was, he hadn't sufficient acquaintance with the book of
Jonah to say, but, as near as he could calk'late, he reckoned they was
ale-whops.
"And the Bachelder told him that it seemed to him he was right, and had
solved a mystery, for it stood to reason that there wa'n't no other fish
_but_ an ale-whop, that they could feed five thousand folks out of seven
little ones and then take up twelve bushel baskets full of bones!
"And the Captain was pleased, and kind o' half owned up that he hadn't
felt no ways sure as to his surmise to begin with, but he said when the
question was put to him, he didn't think no man ought to hesitate to come
down strong on a doctrinal p'int.
"Wall, as I was a sayin', teacher," concluded Grandpa, his teeth still
skinned and gleaming, "it's be'n a mild winter on the Cape.
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