made me a little
unsteady; had made my muscles feel as if they might string up with
cramp; which is not good for stepping a heavyish mast and sailing a
boat. So I stepped the mast and set sail, to make sure, and ran
homewards with the wind almost abeam.

We decided to save the conger for Sunday's dinner.

Mrs Widger made a most savoury stew of it, and when Tony came in as
usual, asking, "Be dinner ready, Missis?" she placed the stew on the
table.

Tony's face fell.

"Be this my dinner, Annie?"

"Iss, for sure."

"_Thees?_"

[Sidenote: _HOT BAKE_]

"What d'yu think then?"

"_Thees!_ Wer's yer baked spuds?"

"Do' ee gude to hae a change. Ther's some cold taties to the larder if
you likes to get 'em."

"_Thees!_ Why, I wish thees yer conger hadn't never been catched!"

"G'out!--Now then, you childern...."

Tony picked over the fish, going _Tsch!_ for every bone his fingers
came across.

"Thee't look so sulky as an ol' cow," said Mam Widger.

"Well, what do 'ee think? Thees yer.... Did 'ee ever see the like
o'it?"

Presently it occurred to him to peep inside the oven. His face
brightened. "I know'd her 'ouldn't du me out o' me Sunday dinner. Bring
it out, Missis. Sharp! Gie thiccy stuff to the cat. Baked spuds! What's
Sunday wi'out baake? 'Tain't no day at all! I couldn' ha' put away an
hour after thic."

For the remainder of the meal, when Tony was not eating, he was
singing; and several times he chucked Mam Widger under the chin, and
she retorted: "G'out, yu cupboard-loving cat!"

21

This is the recipe for baked dinner:

Turn out the children and turn on the oven. Into the middle of a large
baking tin place a saucer piled up with a mixture of herbs (mainly
parsley), one sliced onion and breadcrumbs, the whole made sticky with
a morsel of dripping. Round about the saucer put a layer of large
peeled potatoes, and on top of all, the joint. Set the baking tin on
the hob and into it pour just enough warm water to run over the rim of
the saucer. Soon after the water boils, transfer the whole to a fairly
quick oven. When the meat is brown outside, slow the oven down. Serve
piping hot from the oven, placing the tin on a folded newspaper and the
joint, if large, on a hot plate.

To dish up hot bake in the ordinary way would be to let the nature out
of it. The smell is a wonderful blend, most hunger-provoking. True, the
joint, unless pork or veal, is apt to be a little tough, but the taties
are a