The house seemed strangely lonely without the mother in it, but there was no time for the children to mope, for there was all the work to do in their parents’ absence.  Dan took command at once.  “You ’ll both have to mind me now,” he said to Nancy and Zeb.  “I ’m the man of the house.”

“If thou ’rt the man of it, I ’m the woman, and thou and Zeb will both have to do as I say,” retorted Nancy, “or else mayhap I ’ll get thee no dinner!  Mother said I could make succotash, and thou lov’st that better than anything.  Mother said above all things not to let the fire go out, for it would be hard to bring a fire-brand all the way from the village.  So do thou bring in a pile of wood and set Zeb to chopping more.”

[Illustration]

Dan counted his chances.  “Very well,” he said at last, with condescension, “thou art a willful baggage but I ’ll give thee thy way!  Only make the big kettle full.”

All that day Nancy bustled importantly about the house, with her sleeves rolled up and her skirts looped back under her apron in imitation of her mother.  She was better than her word and made johnny-cake besides the succotash for dinner, and after they had eaten it said to Dan, “If thou wilt go out to the field and bring in a pumpkin, I ’ll make thee some pies for supper.”

Dan dearly loved pumpkin pie, and in his zeal to carry out the plan brought in two great yellow globes from the corn-field instead of the one Nancy had asked for.  “Mercy upon us,” said Nancy when he appeared, beaming, with one under each arm, “those would make pies enough for all Cambridge.  Thine eyes hold more than thy stomach.”

“There ’s no such thing as too many pies,” said Daniel stoutly, “and if there ’s any pumpkin left over, I ’ll feed it to the pig.”

“I ’ll tell thee what we will do,” said Nancy.  “We will make a great surprise for Mother and Father.  When they come home they will be tired and hungry and ready for a grand supper.  Do thou and Zeb run down to the bay and bring back a mess of clams.  We ’ll have the table all spread and a bright fire burning to welcome them!”

Dan agreed to this plan and went out at once to call Zeb.  He found him by the straw-stack with an egg in each hand.  “Take them in to Nancy,” commanded Dan, pointing sternly toward the house.  Zeb had meant to dispose of them otherwise, for he had a bottomless appetite for eggs, but he trotted obediently to the house at Dan’s order, and then the two boys started together for the bay, with Nimrod barking joyfully and running about them in circles all the way.

[Illustration]

The fall days were short, and it was dusk before the evening chores were done, and Dan came in to the bright kitchen with Zeb and Nimrod both at his heels, and announced that he had a hole in his stomach as big as a bushel basket.  For answer Nancy pointed to four golden-brown pies cooling on a shelf, and Dan smacked his lips in anticipation.  Zeb came alongside and, copying Dan, smacked his lips too.