_bet_. The _boat_ weighed only fifty-eight
pounds, and the _man_ had a heft of only eighty pounds. When pa
and me went up to the city agin, the folks said the man was
close on to us, and this time they said the man and his boat
together weighed only eighty pounds. Now I should think you
weighed more than that yourself, letting alone the boat."

Having assured the young man that I was indeed myself, and that the
Newbern people had played upon his credulity, we walked on to the house,
where the family of Captain James Mason kindly welcomed me to a glowing
wood-fire and hearty supper. Though I had never heard of their existence
till I entered Core Sound, the kindness of these people was like that of
old friends.

Half a mile below Captain Mason's home, a short time before my visit, a
new breach had been made by the ocean through the beach. About twenty
years before a similar breach had occurred in the same locality, and was
known during its short life as "Pillintary Inlet." The next day I
crossed the sound, which is here four miles in width, and coasted along
to the oystermen's village of Hunting Quarters, on the mainland. The
houses were very small, but the hearts of the poor folks were very
large. They came to the water's edge and carried the canoe into the
only store in the neighborhood. Its proprietor, Mr. William H. Stewart,
insisted upon my sharing his bachelor's quarters in an unfinished room
of the storehouse. My young host was hardly out of his teens. In his
boyish way he kindly remarked:

"I am here all alone. Father told me, before he died, never to
let a stranger pass my door but to make him share my lodgings,
humble though they are; and now, any way, you're just in time
for the fun, for we are to have three weddings to-night, and all
the boys and girls of the neighborhood will be at Hunting
Quarters."

I entered a mild protest against joining in the festivities, on the plea
of not having received an invitation; at which the handsome youth
laughed heartily.

"Invitation!" he exclaimed; "why, no one ever gives out invitations in
Hunting Quarters. When there is to be a 'jollification' of any sort,
everybody goes to the house without being asked. You see we are all
neighbors here. Up at Newbern and at Beaufort, and other _great_ cities,
people have their ways, but here all are friends."

So we went to the little house in the piny forest, where two hearts were
to