Fresh-made bread and a good supply of butter had been brought from the schooner.

When the supper was all ready, and spread out on a green table-cloth of palm-leaves, Mark and Ruth declared that this picnic was even jollier than the one on the island of the Florida Reef, and that this was after all one of the very best Christmases they had ever known.
After supper, and when the dishes had all been washed and put away, the Elmers, Captain Johnson, and Jan sought the shelter of the canvas awning from the heavy night-dew which had begun to fall as soon as the sun went down.

They lifted the sides, so that they could look out and see the fire around which the crew were gathered.

After a while one of these started a plaintive negro melody, which sounded very sweetly through the still air.

The others took it up, and they sang for an hour or more, greatly to the delight of the children, to whom such music was new.