Children's Book Classics - Kate Douglas Wiggin Edition: 11 Novels & 120+ Short Stories for Children. Kate Douglas Wiggin
Читать онлайн книгу.
over into the cañon, and I tied the legs of the other one together, and carried him home on the front of my saddle.’
‘They are innocent, any way,’ insisted Margery. ‘I won’t believe they’re not. I can’t bear these people who interfere with all your cherished ideas, and say that Columbus didn’t discover America, and Shakespeare wasn’t Shakespeare, and William Tell didn’t shoot the apple.’
‘Nevertheless, I claim that the lamb is not half so much an emblem of innocence as he is of utter and profound stupidity. There is that charming old lyric about Mary’s little lamb; I can explain that. After he came to school (which was an error of judgment at the very beginning), he made the rumpus, you know—
“And then the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered nee-ar,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appee-ar.”
Of course he did. He didn’t know enough to go home alone.
“And then he ran to her and laid
His head upon her arr-um,
As if to say, ‘I’m not afraid;
You’ll keep me from all harr-um.’”
As if a lamb could be capable of that amount of reasoning! And then
“‘What makes the lamb love Mary so?
The eager children cry;
‘Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,’
The teacher did reply.”
And might have added that as Mary fed the lamb three times a day and twice on Sundays, he probably not only knew on which side his daily bread was buttered, but also who buttered it.’
‘Dreadful boy!’ laughed Bell. ‘Polly, pray lower the umbrella; we are going to meet some respectable people, and we actually are too dirty to be seen. I have really been eating dust.’
‘They must be equally dusty,’ said Polly, sagely. ‘Why, it is the Burtons, from Tacitas ranch!’
The Burton ranch wagon was drawn up, as its driver recognised Dr. Winship, and he proceeded to cheer the spirits of the party by telling them that he had passed Pancho two hours before, and that he was busily clearing rubbish from the camping-ground. This was six o’clock, and by a little after eight the weary, happy party were seated on saddle-blankets and carriage-cushions round a cheery camp-fire, eating a frugal meal, which tasted sweeter than nectar and ambrosia to their keen appetites.
The boys expressed their intention of spending the night in unpacking their baggage and getting to rights generally, but Dr. Winship placed a prompt and decisive veto on this proposition, and they submitted cheerfully to his better judgment.
Getting to bed was an exciting occupation for everybody. Dicky was first tucked up in a warm nest of rugs and blankets, under a tree, and sank into a profound slumber at once, with the happy unconsciousness of childhood. His father completed the preparations for his comfort by opening a huge umbrella and arranging it firmly over his head, so that no falling leaf might frighten him and no sudden gust of air blow upon his face.
Bell stood before her hammock, and meditated. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘going to bed is a simple matter after all, when you have shorn it of all useless formalities. Let me see: I generally walk to and fro in the room, eating a bunch of grapes or an orange, look out of the window five or ten minutes, brush my hair, read my chapter in the Bible, take my book and study Spanish five minutes, on the principle of that abnormal woman who learned ninety-six languages while she was waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning—’
‘Must have been a slow boiler,’ interrupted Polly, wickedly. ‘Seems to me it would have been economy to sell it and buy a new one.’
‘Oh, Polly! you are so wilfully stupid! The kettle isn’t the point—but the languages. Besides, she didn’t learn all the ninety-six while the kettle was boiling once, you know.
‘Oh, didn’t she? That alters the case. Thank you,’ said Polly, sarcastically.
‘Now observe me,’ said Bell. ‘I have made the getting into a hammock a study. I first open it very wide at the top with both hands; then, holding it in that position, I gracefully revolve my body from left to right as upon an imaginary swivel; meantime I raise my right foot considerably from mother earth, with a view to passing it over the hammock’s edge. Every move is calculated, you perceive, and produces its own share of the perfect result; the method is the same that Rachel used in rehearsing her wonderful tragic poses. I am now seated in the hammock, you observe, with both hands extending the net from side to side and the right foot well in position; I now raise the left foot with a swift but admirably steady movement, and I am—Help! Help!! Murder!!!’
‘In short, you are not in, but out,’ cried Polly, in a burst of laughter; for Bell had leaned too far to the right, and on bringing the other foot in, with its ‘swift but admirably steady’ motion, she gave a sudden lurch, pulled the hammock entirely over herself and fell out head first on the other side, leaving her feet tangled in its meshes. ‘Shall we help her out, Meg? She doesn’t deserve it, after that pompous oration and attempt to show off her superior abilities. Nevertheless, she always accepts mercy more gracefully than justice. Heave ahoy, my hearties!’
Bell was extricated, and looked sufficiently ashamed.
‘We are much obliged for the lesson,’ said Margery, ‘but the method is open to criticism; so I think we’ll manage in our ordinary savage way. We may not be graceful or scientific, but we get in, which is the main point.’
The hammocks did not prove the easiest of nests, as the girls had imagined. In fact, to be perfectly candid about the matter, the wicked flea of California, which man pursueth but seldom catcheth, is apt, on many a summer night, to interfere shamelessly with slumber. On this particular night he was fairly rampant, perhaps because sweet humanity on which to feed was very scarce in that cañon.
‘Good-night, girls!’ called Jack, when matters seemed to be finally settled for sleep. ‘Bell, you must keep one eye open, for the coyotes will be stealing down the mountain in a jiffy, and yours is the first hammock in the path.’
‘Of course,’ moaned Bell,—‘that’s why the girls gave me this one; they knew very well that one victim always slakes the animals’ thirst for blood. Well, let them come on. I shiver with terror, but my only hope is that I may be eaten in my sleep, if at all.’
‘There was a young party named Bell,
Who slept out of doors for a spell;
When asked how she fared,
She said she was scared,
But otherwise doing quite well.
‘How’s that?’ asked Jack. ‘I shall be able to drive Bell off her own field, with a little practice.’
‘Go to sleep!’ roared Dr. Paul. ‘In your present condition of mind and body you are not fit for poetry!’
‘That’s just the point, sir,’ retorted Jack, slyly, ‘for, you remember, poets are not fit, but nascitur,—don’t you know?’ and he retired under his blanket for protection.
But quiet seemed to be impossible: there were all sorts of strange sounds; and the moon, too, was so splendid that they almost felt as if they were lying beneath the radiance of a calcium light; while in the dark places, midst the branches of thick foliage, the owls hooted gloomily. If you had happened to be an owl in that vicinity, you might have heard not only the feverish tossing to and fro of the girls in the hammocks, but many dismal sighs and groans from Dr. Winship and the boys; for the bare ground is, after all, more rheumatic than romantic, and they too tumbled from side to side, seeking comfort.
But at midnight quiet slumber had descended upon them, and they presented a funny spectacle enough to one open-eyed watcher. A long slender sycamore log was extended before