e we begin
to clear up, I want to make sure you are all content. There must be no
regrets. I don't want to hear to-morrow that you wish you had had
so-and-so. So think well before the food is whisked into the pantry.
Has everybody had enough?"

A chorus of muffled groans arose.

"What do you think we are, Ma?" Tim managed to murmur.

"Indeed I don't know," was the grim retort. "I've often wondered. So
you think you couldn't eat a morsel more?"

"_Think!_ We know we couldn't," gasped Carl.

"Then sit still a second, all of you, till I take a good look at you!"
commanded their mother. "That I should live to see the day when I would
dish up a meal without some amongst you yammering for another helping!
I'm almost tempted to take an affidavit with your signatures in black
and white and preserve it in the family Bible."

With arms akimbo she viewed her grinning flock.

"Well, since you're beyond urging, we may as well turn to the dishes--that
is, if anybody can stagger up and help."

Reaching over she began to remove the food from the table.

Mary sprang to aid her.

"Let me carry the things into the pantry," Tim said. "Maybe if I walk
round some it will shake down what I've eaten."

"Are you laying to eat another course?" derided Carl.

"Aw, quit it!" growled Tim. "I'll bet I haven't made way with any more
than you have. Here, fork over that pie! I'll put it in the closet."

"Can we trust you with it?" called Captain Dillingham.

Tim put up his hand.

"Say, I wouldn't touch that pie if you were to go down on your knees
and beg me to," Tim declared. "Millions wouldn't hire me!"

"Give it to him, Carl; he sounds perfectly safe," asserted the lad's
mother. "And put those apples and figs away, too, dear, if you are
going into the pantry. Mary, you and Carl pile the dishes. What an army
of them there are! I believe we have out every plate we own. Martin, do
take the babies into the next room where they will be out from under
foot. And watch that Nell doesn't eat the candles off the tree. She's
always thinking they are candy, the witch!"

"You must let me help," urged Uncle Frederick, rolling up his sleeves.

"Oh, you must not work to-day, Frederick," his sister protested. "It is
a holiday and you are on shore leave. Besides, it never seems right to
me to see the captain of a ship working."

"Oh, the captain of a ship knows the galley quite as well as the
bridge," responded Uncle Frederick. Seizing a towel