Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/182



RIVER barbecue is where the shantyboaters laugh, dance, and sing, but more than anything else, they exchange ideas, duel for the sweethearts, and sometimes succeed in trading for other men's wives. The trades are not all ill-natured, at that, for it is a matter of authentic tradition that such a swap was made mutually satisfactory all around by the addition of a side of bacon as "boot," when one river lady was regarded as slightly fairer than the other. It was said, too, that both men paid for the necessary divorces, a cost of seventeen dollars and fifty cents, at certain river towns being the prevailing rate, and weddings to suit.

This Yankee Bar eddy barbecue was not lacking in its sub-rosa interest and excitement. It was a sort of coming-out party for Delia, the girl whom Mrs. Mahna had chosen to chaperone, but who had proved sufficient to herself in the now admitted encounter with White Collar Dan—than whom none seemed so crestfallen as when he stumbled out and took his place at the driftboard tables to dine with the others. 176