ceremony, there began to accumulate in the shacks about, viands of
great diversity, which were stored in shelves, in cupboards,--where
there were any,--under beds, and indeed in any and every available
receptacle. The puddings, soups and stews, which, after all, were to
form the main portion of the eating, were deposited in empty beer
kegs, of which every shack could readily furnish a few, and set out
to freeze, in which condition they would preserve their perfect
flavour. Such diligence and such prudence did Anka show in the
supervision of all these arrangements, that when the day before the
feast arrived, on making her final round of inspection, everything
was discovered to be in readiness for the morrow, with the single
exception that the beer had not arrived. But this was no over-sight
on the part of Jacob, to whom this portion of the feast had been
entrusted. It was rather due to a prudence born of experience that
the beer should be ordered to be delivered at the latest possible hour.
A single beer keg is an object of consuming interest to the Galician
and subjects his sense of honour to a very considerable strain; the
known presence of a dray load of beer kegs in the neighbourhood would
almost certainly intensify the strain beyond the breaking point. But as
the shadows of evening began to gather, the great brewery dray with its
splendid horses and its load of kegs piled high, drew up to Paulina's
door. Without loss of time, and under the supervision of Rosenblatt
and Jacob himself, the beer kegs were carried by the willing hands of
Paulina's boarders down to the cellar, piled high against the walls,
and carefully counted. There they were safe enough, for every man, not
only among the boarders but in the whole colony, who expected to be
present at the feast, having contributed his dollar toward the purchase
of the beer, constituted himself a guardian against the possible
depredations of his neighbours. Not a beer keg from this common store
was to be touched until after the ceremony, when every man should have