eon.

"Come, Nat, boy, fall to. That other pigeon will have to be divided."

Then there was silence as I helped myself to the great pigeon, and we
began to eat with such a sense of enjoyment as I never felt before; but
when my uncle and I were half through our pigeons Mr Ebony had finished
his, and was casting furtive glances at the one still frizzling and
browning before the fire in company with the fishes, which our guest
carefully turned.

"Give him the other pigeon, Nat," said my uncle, "and we will make up
with fish;" so I offered it to our visitor, but he shook his head, and
began chattering, pointing to the fish, which he kept turning; and as
soon as one was done, looked with a good deal of natural politeness to
see if we were ready; but as we were not, he threw his bones over his
head--of course I do not mean his own bones, but the bones of the
pigeon, which he had crunched up with his white teeth, like a dog, and
began at once upon his fish.

Leaving the fourth pigeon stuck upon the spit, we now in our turn each
tried a fish, which Uncle Dick said were a kind of perch, and very
delicious they were, especially with the addition of a little pepper, of
which, after the first taste, our visitor showed himself to be very
fond; and taken altogether, we made a most delicious repast, without
thinking of the dessert which had yet to come.

This our visitor commenced after he had eaten a second fish, chattering
away to us, and opening the nuts with great skill, giving one to each of
us, so that for the first time I tasted what cocoa-nut really was like.
Not a hard, indigestible, sweet, oily kind of woody kernel fast round
the shell, so that it was hard to get it off; but a sweet, soft pulp
that we cut and scraped out like cream-cheese, while it had a refreshing
slightly acid flavour that was most delicious.

I never saw anyone before like our black friend, for no sooner did he
see by our looks that we enjoyed his cocoa-nuts than he jumped up and
danced, laughing with pleasure, but stopping every now and then to have
a taste himself, till we had finished, when he took one of the other
great nuts, which I saw were thorny, and marked down the sides with
seams, as if ready for opening by means of a knife.

"That is not cocoa-nut, is it, uncle?" I said, looking curiously at the
great wooden fruit, as the black proceeded to split it open with his
hatchet, inserting the blade very cleverly so as to get it open, with
t