" For he had a great will to become a cook, but
could by no means find a way to accomplish that end.
One day, while Peterkin and I were seated beside our table, on which
dinner was spread, Jack came up from the beach, and, flinging down his
axe, exclaimed--
"There, lads, the boat's finished at last! So we've nothing to do now
but shape two pair of oars, and then we may put to sea as soon as we
like."
This piece of news threw us into a state of great joy; for, although we
were aware that the boat had been gradually getting near its
completion, it had taken so long that we did not expect it to be quite
ready for at least two or three weeks. But Jack had wrought hard and
said nothing, in order to surprise us.
"My dear fellow," cried Peterkin, "you're a perfect trump. But why did
you not tell us it was so nearly ready? Won't we have a jolly sail
to-morrow, eh?"
"Don't talk so much, Peterkin," said Jack; "and, pray, hand me a bit of
that pig."
"Certainly, my dear," cried Peterkin, seizing the axe. "What part will
you have? A leg, or a wing, or a piece of the breast--which?"
"A hind leg, if you please," answered Jack; "and, pray, be so good as
to include the tail."
"With all my heart," said Peterkin, exchanging the axe for his
hoop-iron knife, with which he cut off the desired portion. "I'm only
too glad, my dear boy, to see that your appetite is so wholesale, and
there's no chance whatever of its dwindling down into re-tail again, at
least, in so far as this pig is concerned.
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