diff options
Diffstat (limited to '26977-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 26977-8.txt | 8466 |
1 files changed, 8466 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/26977-8.txt b/26977-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e464eec --- /dev/null +++ b/26977-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8466 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Tobacco Shop, by William Bowen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old Tobacco Shop + A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure + +Author: William Bowen + +Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26977] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD TOBACCO SHOP *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Katie Ward and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + Transcriber's note: + Archaic and variable spelling preserved as printed. + Author's punctuation style preserved. + Hyphenation standardized. + Passages in italics indicated by underscore _. + + [Illustration: _The Old Tobacco Shop_ + _By William Bowen_] + + The Old Tobacco Shop + + + Also By + WILLIAM BOWEN + The Enchanted Forest + The Old Tobacco Shop + + +[Illustration: "Lord bless us!" cried the hunch back. "Look at that!"] + + + _The Old Tobacco Shop_ + + _A True Account of What Befell + a Little Boy in Search + of Adventure_ + + + _By + William Bowen_ + + + _Though you believe it not, I care not much: but an honest man, and + of good judgment, believeth still what is told him, and that which + he finds written._--RABELAIS. + + + New York + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + 1921 + _All rights reserved_ + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + COPYRIGHT, 1921 + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + + +Set up and Electrotyped. Published October, 1921 + + FERRIS PRINTING COMPANY + NEW YORK + + + + + To + BILLY AND JOHN + TWO LITTLE BOYS + + + + + PRINCIPAL PERSONS + + Freddie + Mr. Toby + Aunt Amanda + Mr. Punch + The Churchwarden + Mr. Hanlon + The Sly Old Fox + The Old Codger with the Wooden Leg + Mr. Lemuel Mizzen + The Cabin-Boy + Marmaduke + Captain Lingo + Ketch the Practitioner + The Third Vice-President + Mr. Matthew Speak + Shiraz the Rug-Merchant + The King and Queen + Robert, Jenny, and James + Mr. Punch's Father + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + 1. "Lord bless us!" cried the hunch back. "Look at that!" Frontispiece + + 2. "I'm Lemuel Mizzen, A.B., that's me!" 50 + + 3. "L-l-Lem!" shrieked the parrot. "Who's your f-f-f-friends?" 86 + + 4. Mr. Hanlon was standing on his feet by the log on + which his head had been cut off 134 + + 5. Shiraz the Rug-Merchant looked at his visitors + with little beady black eyes 188 + + 6. "Ah, yes," said Aunt Amanda, "there's no place like + the Old Tobacco Shop after all" 235 + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Mr. Punch and the Clock-Tower 1 + + II. Aunt Amanda and the Two Old Codgers 9 + + III. Introducing the Churchwarden 22 + + IV. In which Mr. Hanlon makes a Great Impression 31 + + V. The Chinaman's Head 39 + + VI. Lemuel Mizzen, A.B. 48 + + VII. The Hands of the Clock come Together 54 + + VIII. Celluloid Cuffs and a Silk Hat 60 + + IX. The Odour of Sanctity 65 + + X. Captain Higginson and the Spanish Main 69 + + XI. A Mixed Company in search of Adventure 74 + + XII. The Voyage of the Sieve 81 + + XIII. The Cabin-Boy's Revenge 93 + + XIV. The Cruise of the Mattresses 107 + + XV. A Fall in the Dark 111 + + XVI. Captain Lingo and a Fine Piece of Head-Work 122 + + XVII. High Dudgeon and Low Dudgeon 139 + + XVIII. The Society for Piratical Research 146 + + XIX. A Knock at the Door 160 + + XX. The City of Towers 171 + + XXI. Shiraz the Rug-Merchant 178 + + XXII. Six Enchanted Souls 187 + + XXIII. From the Fire Back to the Frying-Pan 196 + + XXIV. Disenchantment Complete 200 + + XXV. The Old Man of the Mountain 209 + + XXVI. The King's Tower 216 + + XXVII. The Sorcerer's Den 222 + +XXVIII. The Old Tobacco Shop 231 + + + + +THE OLD TOBACCO SHOP + + + + +CHAPTER I + +MR. PUNCH AND THE CLOCK-TOWER + + +When the Little Boy first went to the Old Tobacco Shop, he stood a long +while before going in, to look at the wooden figure which stood beside +the door. + +His father was sitting at home in his carpet-slippers, waiting for +tobacco for his pipe, but when the Little Boy saw the wooden figure he +forgot all about hurrying,--"Now don't be long," his mother had said, +and his father had said "Hurry back,"--but he forgot all about hurrying, +and stood and looked at the wooden figure a long time: a little +hunchbacked man, not so very much taller than himself, on a low wooden +box, holding out in one hand a packet of black wooden cigars. His back +was terribly humped up between his shoulders, his face was square and +bony, if wood can be said to be bony, he was bareheaded and bald-headed, +he had a wide mouth, and his high nose curved down over it and his +pointed chin curved up under it; and his breast stuck out in front +almost as much as his shoulders stuck out behind. + +The Little Boy's name was Freddie; his mother called him that, and his +father usually called him Fred; but sometimes his father called him +Frederick, in fact whenever he didn't come back after he had been told +to hurry, and then his father looked at him--you know that look--and +said "Frederick!" just like that. But his mother never called him +anything but Freddie, even when he was late. + +He grasped his money tight in his hand, as he had been told to do, and +stood and looked at the little hunchbacked wooden man holding out his +packet of black wooden cigars. "I wonder," thought Freddie, "what makes +him so crooked?" He walked around him and looked at his back. He walked +around in front of him again and wondered if the black cigars in his +hand would smoke; he decided he would ask about it. The little man wore +blue knee breeches and black stockings and buckled shoes, and his coat +was cut away in front over his stomach and had two tails behind, down to +his knees. It was easy to see that he wasn't a boy, though, even if he +did wear knee breeches; you only had to look at his face, for he had the +kind of hard boniness in his face that grown-ups have. Freddie made up +his mind that he liked him, anyway; and it must have been hard to have +to stand out there all day without moving, rain or shine, and offer that +bunch of cigars to all the people who went by, and never get a single +soul to take them. Freddie put out his other hand (not the one with the +money in it) towards the cigars, but he quickly drew it back, for he +looked at the little man's face at the same time, and there was +something about his eyes--anyhow, he stood back a little. + +"Better be careful o' Mr. Punch, young feller," said a deep voice from +the shop door. + +Freddie looked, and in the doorway, leaning against the doorpost, with +his hands in his trousers' pockets, and one foot crossed over the +other, stood a little man, not so very much taller than himself, and +certainly no taller than the figure on the stand, who stared at Freddie +as if he knew all about human boys and did not trust them out of his +sight. Freddie looked at him and then at the wooden figure beside the +door; they might have been brothers. The little man had a hump on his +back, and his breast stuck out in front; his head was big and square, +and he had high cheek-bones; his face was bony and his mouth wide, and +his big nose curved down and his chin curved up; but he did not wear +knee breeches; his trousers were the trousers of grown-ups, and his coat +was a square coat, buttoned tight over his chest from top to bottom. He +was bareheaded, and he had plenty of hair, brushed from the top of his +head down towards his forehead. He looked as if he belonged to the +tobacco shop; or perhaps the tobacco shop belonged to him. + +He stared at Freddie without blinking, and there was something in his +eyes--anyway, Freddie stepped back, and held his money tighter in his +hand behind him. + +"You'd _better_ stand away from Mr. Punch," said the hunchbacked man, +without moving. + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. + +"Did you say 'why'? Because you know I'm terrible deef, and can't never +hear boys when they talk down in their stomicks. I'll _tell_ you why, as +long as you ast me. Do you see that clock on the church-tower over +there?" He nodded his big wooden head up the street, without taking his +hands from his pockets. Freddie looked, and there the clock was, plain +enough. "Well," said the hunchbacked man, "I'll tell you, seeing as you +insist upon it, and won't take no for an answer: but you mustn't never +tell it to no one. Do you promise me that? Cross your heart?" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. + +"Done," said the hunchback. "Mr. Punch's father lives up there behind +that clock. And sometimes, just exactly when the two hands of that clock +come together, one on top of the other, mind you, like you lay one stick +along another, Mr. Punch's father comes out and stands on that there +sill under the clock; he's a little old man with a long white beard; and +he stands there and puts his hand to his mouth and calls down here to +Mr. Punch, and Mr. Punch climbs down off his little perch and goes over +to that church, and climbs up the inside of that tower to the very top +and meets his father! And I've heard tell that they have regular high +jinks up there all by theirselves, and vittles! more vittles and drink +than you ever seen at one time; yes, sir; a regular feast, as sure as +you're born; and they don't only eat vittles; no, sir; if they can only +get hold of a nice plump little boy or two, with plenty o' meat to him, +that's what they like best; and if it happens to be night-time, there's +a lot of queer ones with 'em up there, and all sorts of queer +noises--you ask the sextant over there about it--_he's_ heard 'em; and +if you should just happen to be around when Mr. Punch climbs down off of +this here perch, you'd better look out; for he's just as likely as not +to snatch you up and carry you off with him up there into that +church-tower to his father, and if he does _that_, that's the last of +you; and your ma and your pa could cry their eyes out, and it wouldn't +be no use; you'd be _gone_! And never come back no more. They say +there's many a boy been took up into that tower by Mr. Punch here when +his father comes out and calls him. But he don't _always_ come out when +the hands of the clock come together; nobody ever knows when he's going +to do it, no sirree; Mr. Punch himself never knows when his father's +going to call him. Lord bless us!" cried the little hunchback, looking +up again in alarm at the clock in the church-tower. "Lord bless us, +look at that!" + +Freddie stared at the clock. It was twenty-five minutes past five. He +knew how to tell twelve o'clock and ten minutes to ten, but he had never +got as far as twenty-five minutes past five; he could easily see, +however, that the big hand was almost on top of the little hand. He +edged away further from the wooden figure on the box; he was almost sure +that the hand which held the cigars moved a little. + +The hunchbacked man in the doorway stood up straight on his two feet and +took his hands out of his pockets. + +"Look alive, young feller!" he said. "It's pretty near time! In another +minute! I can't help it if Mr. Punch's father comes out and--Quick, boy! +Come here to me, before it's too late! I'll see if I can save you!" + +Freddie gave another look at the clock; the hands were surely almost +together, and quick as a flash he darted to the hunchback and hid behind +him and held on to his coat, peeping around him through the doorway. The +little man put his arm about Freddie and held him close; it was a strong +muscular arm, and Freddie felt quite safe. The little man could not have +been laughing, for his face was as solemn and wooden-looking as ever; +but Freddie could feel his body shaking all over, he couldn't tell why. + +"You'd better come in and see Aunt Amanda," he said, "before it's too +late. You'll be safe in there." + +He took Freddie by the hand and drew him into the shop. + +The Old Tobacco Shop stands at the corner of two streets, as you surely +must know if you have ever been in the city that lies on the river +called Patapsco, which runs along ever so far out of a great bay where +ships sail from all over the world, called Chesapeake Bay. It is an old +brick house, and you go into the shop by the door that opens in the side +just round the corner, not in the front, for there isn't any door at the +front, but only a window with pipes and cigars and tobacco in it, and +the stuffed head of a bull-dog with a pipe in his mouth. The house is +only one story and a half high, and has a steep gabled roof, with two +dormer windows in the slope of the roof above the side of the house, and +one dormer window in the slope of the roof above the shop-window in +front, where the bull-dog is. All the other houses fronting in the row +are good high two-story houses; why this corner house never grew up like +the others, no one knows. + +When Freddie was standing at the corner of the street, before he had +seen the wooden figure offering his bundle of wooden cigars there beside +the door, he looked down the street that runs along the side of the +shop, across the street that crosses it, and saw the masts of tall ships +in the harbor beside the wharves; some with their sails up, some with +their sails hanging most untidily, and some with their sails neatly +rolled up and tied; and he would certainly have gone down there, only +his father had told him to hurry. + +Freddie lived in a fine two-story brick house in a row like this one, a +long, long way off; three squares off (they say "squares" in that city +when they mean a straight line between two streets and not a square at +all) down the same street on which the Old Tobacco Shop fronts; and it +really takes a good while to go all that way, for there is a boy +half-way down, a big boy, who belongs to a Gang, and likes to bully +little boys, and you have to watch your chance to get out of his way, +and there is a place with a knot-hole in the fence where you can see all +kinds of rusty springs and bed-rails and birdcages and barrel hoops +piled up inside the yard, and a tin-can factory where you can pick up +little round pieces of tin just as good as dollars, and a church (where +the clock is) with a fat old man sitting on the pavement in a chair +tilted back against the church wall smoking a long pipe, who doesn't +mind being stared at from the curbstone, and a street-car track where +you have to look out for the horse-car, which is very dangerous when the +horse begins to trot, and--but Freddie hadn't lived long in his fine +two-story house in that street, and these things were new to him and +took time. But the newest and biggest thing he had yet found (not that +it was really big, you know) was the wooden hunchback outside the door +of the Old Tobacco Shop; and you have seen how much time _that_ took. + +Freddie found himself inside the shop, and his hand grasped tight by the +big strong hand of the hunchback, so tight that he wriggled a little to +get loose; but the hunchback only held him tighter. "Come along," he +said, "you'd better come in here and see my Aunt Amanda, or Mr. Punch +may step out and get you; and _then_ where would you be?" + +Freddie looked back out of doors over his shoulder, but it did not seem +as if Mr. Punch meant to step out that time. He breathed easier. The +shop was a very little shop, with shelves on the wall behind the +counter, and a window in front where he saw the back of the bull-dog's +head. The two show-cases on the counter were full of pipes of all kinds, +and cigars and tobacco and cigarettes, and piled on the shelves were +boxes of cigars and jars and tins of tobacco, and on the wooden top of +the counter between the two show-cases stood a tobacco-cutter and a +little pair of scales with a scoop lying beside it and little iron +weights in a box. The counter ran from the front window lengthwise to +the back of the shop, and at the back, on your left as you went in, was +a closed door. A wooden chair with arms stood beside the front window. +You could get behind the counter only by a swinging gate at the back +end. There was a delightful warm odour about the place, very much the +same odour Freddie liked to smell when his father opened his old +tobacco-box on the mantel-piece in the sitting-room upstairs and filled +his pipe, when he came home in the evening and put on his +carpet-slippers and spread out that everlasting newspaper that had no +pictures in it. He never could understand why his mother opened all the +windows the next morning. + +"All right, young feller," said the hunchback, "we'll get on the other +side of that door, and then we'll be safe. Here we are." + +They reached the door at the back of the shop, and the hunchback opened +it and pulled Freddie into the back room and closed the door behind +them. Freddie hung back a little, but his hand was gripped tight, and he +couldn't have got away if he had tugged with all his might. He was not +so much afraid now of Mr. Punch and his father, but he didn't know what +this little man was going to do with him; and besides, his father had +told him to hurry. + +In this back room, near a window which looked out on the street, sat a +lady. The hunchback marched Freddie up to her and stopped there before +her, and wagged his head sidewise towards the Little Boy. The hunchback +and the Little Boy stood hand in hand, and the lady looked at them +steadily. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AUNT AMANDA AND THE TWO OLD CODGERS + + +"Here's Aunt Amanda," said the hunchback, standing before the lady who +was sitting near the window, and letting go of Freddie's hand, "and +here's a boy that Mr. Punch pretty near got hold of, if I hadn't come +along just in time and hustled him in here. Just look out of that +window, Aunt Amanda, and see if Mr. Punch has moved yet." + +The lady did not look out of the window, but stared at Freddie with her +mouth shut tight. She had very thin lips and she pressed them tight +together; and without opening them more than a wee mite she said to the +hunchback, sternly: + +"Obelilackyoomuptwonyerix." + +Freddie could not understand this at all. He looked at her closely. She +was very thin, and had a high beaked nose and reddish hair and a reddish +skin, and on the left side of her chin was a mole, with three little +reddish hairs sticking out of it; she wore a rusty black dress, very +tight above the waist and very wide below, and in the bosom of this +dress were sticking dozens, maybe hundreds, for all Freddie could tell, +of pins and needles. She must have been very tall when she stood up. A +cane leaned against the back of her chair; she was a little lame; not +very lame, but enough to make her limp when she walked, and to make her +cane useful in getting about. If she had had a stiff starched ruff about +her neck and a lace thing on her head pointed in front, she would have +done very well for Queen Elizabeth, the one you see the picture of in +that history-book. There was a thimble on the second finger of her right +hand, and a pair of scissors hung by a tape at her waist; and around her +neck she wore a measuring tape. On the floor at her feet lay a pile of +goods, and some of it was in her lap; the kind of goods that Mother has +around her when she is turning and making over that old blue serge, and +gathers up out of Father's way when she hears him coming in towards the +sitting-room. + +At Aunt Amanda's elbow stood an oval marble-topped table, and besides a +work-basket there were several fascinating things on it. In the center +was a glass dome, and under the glass dome was the most beautiful basket +of wax flowers--calla lilies mostly, with a wonderful yellow spike like +a finger sticking up out of each one. On one side of the wax flowers was +a thick book with blue plush covers, and the word "Album" across it in +slanting gold letters. On the other side was a kind of a--well, it had a +handle under a piece of wood to hold it up by, and a frame at one end to +stick up a picture in, and two pieces of thick glass in a frame at the +other end to look through at the picture and make the picture look +all--_you_ know!--as if the people in the back of it were a long way +behind, and the people in front right close up in front, and all that; +Freddie's father had one. + +The chairs in the room had thin curved legs and those slippery +horse-hair seats which Freddie hated to sit on. On the walls were +portraits in oval frames of men with chin-whiskers and no mustaches, and +ladies in shawls and bonnets; but there was one square frame, and it had +no picture under its glass, but a sheaf of real wheat, standing up as +natural as life, with some kind of curly writing over it; it was simply +beautiful. There was a clock on the marble mantel-piece, tall and +square-cornered, with a clear circle in the glass below where you could +see the round weight of the pendulum go back and forth, and a picture +of the sun on the face, very red, with a big nose and eyes, and stiff +red hair floating off from it. + +Aunt Amanda stuck a pin in the goods in her lap and folded her hands. +Freddie, after glancing around the room, looked at her again and +wondered who she was; plain sewing she was, that was sure, also an aunt; +and besides that, although Freddie did not know it, she was an old--I +hate to say it, though it wasn't anything really against her, if you +come to that,--an old--well, you know what you call them behind their +backs, or shout after them as they go down the street and then whip +around the corner when they turn, just simply because they haven't ever +been married, like Mother,--well, then, an Old Maid. + +Being an Old Maid, she of course wore no wedding ring; but on her +wedding-finger, the third finger of her left hand, there was a mark at +the place where a wedding ring would have been; a kind of birth-mark, +ruby red, in shape and size like the ruby stone of a ring. Freddie +looked at it often afterwards. + +"Now you look here, Aunt Amanda," said her nephew, taking hold of +Freddie's hand again, "you know well enough I can't understand you with +all them pins--" + +Aunt Amanda put a hand to her lips and drew out of her mouth a pin and +stuck it in the bosom of her dress. She put her hand to her lips again +and drew forth another pin and stuck it in the bosom of her dress. She +drew forth another and another, and stuck each one in her dress. +Freddie's eyes opened wide; did this lady eat pins? Her mouth seemed to +be full of them; didn't they hurt? It didn't seem possible she could eat +them, and yet there they were. No wonder she couldn't talk plainly. +There seemed to be no end to the pins, but there was, and at last her +mouth was clear of them so that she could talk. + +"Toby Littleback," said she, "you're up to one o' your tricks again. +Ain't you ashamed of yourself?" That was what she had meant by saying, +"Obelilackyoomuptwonyerix," with her mouth full of pins. + +Toby was quite crestfallen. "Well," he said, "I guess it ain't no +hangin' matter. All I done was to bring the boy in to see you. 'N' this +is what I get fer it every time. I ain't a-going to bring 'em in any +more, that's flat." + +"Let go o' the child," said Aunt Amanda, sharply. "Can't you see you're +hurting his hand? Come here, boy." + +Mr. Littleback dropped Freddie's hand and walked over to the table +beside his aunt. Freddie came forward timidly and stood at Aunt Amanda's +knee. She examined him carefully. + +"It's the best one yet," she said. "Boy, do you know you're as pretty as +a--Well, anyway, what is your name?" + +If there was one thing Freddie loathed, it was to be called pretty; he +had heard it before, in the parlor at home, when he had been trotted out +to be inspected by female visitors, and he had tried many a time to +scrub off the rosy redness from his cheeks, but he had found it only +made it worse. He hung his head a little, and could not find his voice. +Aunt Amanda took his chin in her hand and gently held up his head. + +"It's all right, my dear," said she. "What is your name, now?" + +"Fweddie," said the Little Boy. + +"It ain't neither!" cried Mr. Littleback. "There ain't no such name. +It's Freddie! Come on, now, say Freddie!" + +"Fweddie," said the Little Boy. + +"No, no!" cried Toby. "Try it again, now. Say Freddie!" + +"Toby," said Aunt Amanda, "shut up. Freddie, I haven't any little boy, +and I don't get out very much, and I'd like you to come and see me +sometimes. Would you like to do that?" + +Freddie stared at her, and said, "Yes'm." + +"I hope you will, often. Be sure you do. I suppose you don't like +gingerbread? Toby." + +The little hunchback went out briskly through a back door and returned +with a slice of gingerbread. "Baked today," said his aunt. "But what +time is it? Quarter to six. Too near suppertime. You mustn't eat it now, +Freddie. Toby, wrap it up." + +Toby went into the shop and returned with a paper sack, and putting the +gingerbread into it gave it to Freddie. + +"Now," said Aunt Amanda, "take it home with you and eat it after supper. +Will you come to see me?" + +"Yes'm," said Freddie as if he meant it. You couldn't get gingerbread at +home between meals every day in the week. + +"That's a good boy. Now run away home." + +"Please, sir," said Freddie, holding out the money in his hand, "my +farver wants half a pound of Cage-Roach Mitchner." + +"What? Oh!" said Toby. "I see. Half a pound of Stage-Coach Mixture. All +right, young feller, come along into the shop." + +"Good-bye, Freddie, and don't break the gingerbread before you get +home," said Aunt Amanda, taking into her mouth a palmful of pins with a +back toss of her head. Had she swallowed them? Freddie stared at her in +alarm. + +"Ain't you never comin' for the tobacco?" said Toby. "I can't keep all +them customers in the shop waiting all day." + +Freddie followed him into the shop. + +"You'll have to wait your turn, young feller," said Toby. "I can't keep +these customers waiting no longer. What'll you have, Mr. Applejohn?" + +Freddie looked around for Mr. Applejohn, but so far as he could see +there was no one in the shop but himself and Mr. Littleback. The +hunchback went through the swinging gate and stood behind the counter, +and looked over it (his head and shoulders just came over the top) at +Mr. Applejohn. + +"No," said Toby, "we're just out of it. Very sorry. But I have something +just as good. No? Well, then, come around tomorrow; yes, sir; between +ten and eleven. Now, then, Tom, it's your turn. You want what? No, sir, +I won't sell no cigarettes to no boy, so you can clear out. You ought to +be ashamed o' yourself, smoking cigarettes at your age. No use arguin', +I won't do it. You can get right out o' here." The big wooden-looking +head winked an eye at Freddie. "That's the way I treat 'em. Did you see +how he skipped off in a hurry? You saw him go, didn't you?" + +Freddie looked at the door. He hadn't seen anybody, but after all that +talk there must have been somebody there; he couldn't be sure; probably +he had been mistaken about it; grown-up people ought to know what they +were talking about; perhaps he _had_ seen somebody. He hesitated. + +"I--I think so; I believe so; yes, sir." + +"Don't you fool yourself, young man. You can't smoke cigarettes if you +ever want to grow up. Look at me. Do you see this?" He turned his back +and reached over his shoulder to his hump. "Cigarettes. That's what done +it. Cigarettes. I smoked 'em along with my bottle of milk, regular, when +I was a kid, and look at me now, not much bigger than Mr. Punch out +there. Cigarettes. Maybe you might think it was the bottle o' milk done +it, instead of the cigarettes, being as they was at the same time; but +don't you never believe it. Cigarettes! You keep off of 'em. Now +pipe-tobacco! That's a different thing. If I'd only stuck to a pipe, +along with that bottle o' milk, look how high I'd 'a' been now! What +kind o' tobacco did you say your farver wanted? Housewife's Favorite?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie. "My farver he wants half a pound of Cage-Roach +Mitchner." + +"That's it," said Toby. "I don't see how I come to forget that name. +Your father's a man o' good common sense. Nothing like Cage-Roach. Here +it is." He turned to the shelf behind him and mounted a little ladder +and took down a large tin. While he was scooping out the tobacco at the +counter and weighing it on the scales and doing it up, he was singing to +himself, and Freddie stared at him with rapt attention. + +"Some day," said Mr. Littleback, without pausing in his work or looking +at Freddie, "them eyes of yourn will pop right out of your head, if you +ain't careful. Did you ever hear that song?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie. + +"Would you like to hear it?" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. + +"It's about two old codgers--friends of mine; they come in here regular. +One of 'em's a good customer and pays spot cash; the other one never +buys nothing; and I can't say which one of 'em I like worse. Anyway, +here's how it goes: + + "Oh-h-h! There was an old codger, and he had a wooden leg, + And he never bought tobacco when tobacco he could beg." + +"Don't you never let yourself get into that habit, young man. Always buy +your tobacco fair and square. I've known 'em--this feller and many +another one--never have a grain o' tobacco left in their pouch--just +used up the very last bit two minutes before, and always a-beggin' a +pipeful, and right here in my own shop too, where I _sell_ tobacco, mind +you--I'd like 'em better if they sneaked in and _stole_ it, I would, any +day. But the other one! I don't know that I'd want to be him neither, if +I had to choose between 'em,--however-- + + "Another old codger, as sly as a fox! + And he always had tobacco in his old tobacco box. + +"Count on him for that! _He_ never begs no tobacco, nor gives away none +either. However, he ain't such a general nuisance as the other one, and +he pays spot cash. I'll have to say that much for him. But in spite o' +everything and all, I can't seem to make myself care for him, much. +Anyway-- + + "Said the one old codger, Won't ye gimme a chew? + Said the other old codger, I'll be hanged if I do! + +"They're a fine pair now, ain't they? One of 'em a nuisance and the +other one a grouch. You'll see 'em here both in my shop one o' these +days, when you're a-visitin' Aunt Amanda, and one of them times--you see +the way I bounced that boy that wanted cigarettes, didn't you? Well, +that's what I'm goin' to do to them two old codgers one of these days, +you watch and see if I don't; yes, sir; both of 'em, as sure as I've got +a hump on my back. But it's pretty good advice, after all, what the song +says,-- + + "So save up your pennies and put away your rocks, + And you'll always have tobacco in your old tobacco box! + +"Here's your Cage-Roach. Gimme your money. There's your change; five, +ten, fifteen, seventeen. Now run along. Come back again; what did you +say your name was?" + +"Fweddie." + +"You mean Freddie, don't you?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Why don't you say what you mean? Well, Freddie, there's plenty of +tobacco left in this shop, so you can come in whenever the old tobacco +box at home runs out. And don't forget to come in to see Aunt Amanda. +Plenty of goods left in the shop whenever--you see all that?" He pointed +up towards the shelves. "I'll tell you something I ain't told to but +mighty few people before. There's a jar of smoking tobacco up there +that's just plain magic. Magic! You know what that means?" + +Freddie started, and looked up at the shelves in alarm. He nodded. + +"It's that one, on the middle shelf; the Chinaman's head. Do you see +it?" + +He pointed to a white porcelain jar, shaped like a human head. Freddie +could see that it was the head of some foreign kind of man, with a +little round blue cap on top, which was probably the lid. + +"That tobacco in that Chinaman's head is magic, as sure as you're alive. +I wouldn't smoke it if you'd give me all the plum puddings in this city +next Christmas; no, sir; and I wouldn't allow nobody else to smoke it, +neither: I just naturally wouldn't dare to. Do you know where that +tobacco come from? A sailor off of one them ships down there in the +harbor, that come all the way from China--yes, sir, _China!_--give it to +me once for a quid of plug-cut; what you might call broke, he was, and +it wasn't any use to him because he didn't smoke, but he did chew; and +he told me all about it; he stole it from an old sorcerer in China, +where he'd just come from. Don't you never touch it! I wouldn't want to +be in your boots if you ever smoked that tobacco in that there +Chinaman's head! You can steal anything else in this shop, and it +wouldn't do much harm to anybody; but you keep your hands off of that +Chinaman's tobacco, mind what I'm telling you!" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. He had never thought about smoking before, in +connection with himself, but now for the first time he began to wish +that he knew how to smoke. It would be worth risking something to take a +whiff or two of the magic tobacco in that Chinaman's head, just to see +what would happen. + +"Do you think you'd better go home now?" said Mr. Littleback. + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. "My farver told me to hurry." + +"Oh, he did! Indeed!" + +The hunchback followed Freddie to the door, and they looked up together +at the clock in the church-tower. + +"Ah!" said Toby. "You're safe. Just six o'clock. Mr. Punch's father +can't come out for about half an hour yet." + +Freddie looked back as he crossed the street, and saw the live hunchback +leaning against the wooden hunchback, with one foot crossed over the +other; he could hardly tell which was which, except for the coat and +breeches. He went on up the street with his package of tobacco in one +hand and his package of gingerbread in the other. As he passed the +church, he lingered a moment to stare at the great fat man with +spectacles, who was sitting on the pavement in a chair tilted back +against the church-wall, smoking a long pipe and reading a newspaper; +could this be the "sextant" of the church, whom Mr. Toby had mentioned, +and who had heard the queer noises from the top of the tower when Mr. +Punch and his father were up there having their high jinks? He tried to +get up his courage to ask the fat man about it, but he could not get the +words out. He stared so long that the fat man finally put down his paper +and took the pipe from his mouth and looked over his spectacles and +said: + +"If you're considerin' making a bid for the property, young man, I'll +see what the senior Churchwarden has to say about it. How much do you +offer?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie, blushing in confusion, and went on up the +street. He understood nothing of what the fat man had said, but he +caught the word "churchwarden," and remembered it. + +He did not walk very fast, for he had a good deal to think about; so +many things had never happened to him in one day before. He dwelt +especially, in his mind, on the two old codgers who were friends of Mr. +Toby, and he supposed that his own father never saved up his pennies, +otherwise his old tobacco box would not be empty every now and then. +However, he was glad that his father was a spendthrift, because it would +give him a chance to go to the Old Tobacco Shop sometimes for more +tobacco for the box; and apart from Aunt Amanda and her gingerbread, he +was very anxious to look again at the Chinaman's head in which lay the +magic tobacco which he must not touch. One thing was sure; he would +never go without looking carefully first at the hands of the clock. He +wished he knew how to smoke; only not cigarettes; he shivered when he +thought of the terrible consequences. + +When he came to the street-car track, the horse-car was going past; at +least, it was coming down the street, and he did not want to be run over +by that horse; he had better wait, for the horse was trotting; his +mother had warned him about it; he sat down on the curb. He had quite a +moment or two to wait, and there would be time to give a hasty glance at +the gingerbread. He laid the tobacco-sack beside him on the curb, and +opened the other package; the car-horse had dropped into a walk and his +bell was hardly jingling; there was no hurry after all; it would never +do to cross in front of that horse even though he was walking. He looked +at the gingerbread; it was fresh and soft, and its smell, when held +close to the nose, was nothing less than heavenly; it was a pity it had +to be hidden away again in the sack, but the horse was going by and the +danger would soon be past. He held the gingerbread under his nose, +merely to smell it; the edge of it touched his upper lip by chance, and +there was something peculiar about the feel of it, he couldn't tell +exactly what; it was very interesting; he touched it with the tip of his +tongue, to see if it felt the same to his tongue as to his lip; it was +just the same; perhaps teeth would be different; his teeth sank into it, +just for a trial. The horse was going by now, and the driver was looking +at him. He forgot what he was about, in watching the horse and his +driver, as they went on past him; the gingerbread completely slipped his +mind, and when he turned his head back from the horse-car and came to +himself he found, to his amazement, that his mouth was full of +gingerbread. He wondered at first how it got there, but there was no use +in wondering; there it was, and it had to be swallowed; his mother would +never approve of his spitting it out; and so, to please his mother, he +swallowed it. The horse-car was nearly a square away; he could cross the +track at any time now; there was no hurry. + +When he came into the fine two-story brick house where he lived, with +only one package in his hand, his mother threw up her hands and said: + +"Why, Freddie! Where on earth have you been? Did you get lost? Are you +hungry?" + +"No'm. Yes'm," said Freddie. + +"Frederick," said his father, looking at him with that look, "where have +you been? Didn't I tell you to hurry?" + +"Yes, sir, to Mr. Punch's, and I didn't see his farver at all, but the +hands come'd right over on top of each other and he didn't get down off +of his perch, he didn't, so Mr. Toby took me in to see Aunt Namanda and +she eats pins, and it's cigarettes that gives you that hump on the back, +only tobacco's all right 'cause you smoke it in a pipe and it doesn't do +you any harm at all, and that's what Mr. Toby says and he ought to know +'cause he's got one on his back his own self, but you mustn't touch that +tobacco in the head 'cause it's magic and the sailor said so, and here's +the Cage-Roach Mitchner, and that's all." + +You will notice that he said nothing about the gingerbread. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +INTRODUCING THE CHURCHWARDEN + + +Every time Freddie visited the Old Tobacco Shop after that--and it was +pretty often, whether the tobacco box at home needed tobacco or not, for +there were a good many things that drew him there, and he hardly knew +which was the most fascinating: there was always a chance of +gingerbread, and you could usually depend on seeing Aunt Amanda eat +pins, and you could look through the two pieces of glass at the double +picture and make it all one picture with the people in it standing out +as if they were real, and Mr. Toby would often sing about his friends +the two old Codgers and talk about their mean ways, and Mr. Punch was +always waiting for his father outside the door, so that you had to keep +your eyes on the time, or at least the clock (which is different), and +sometimes Mr. Toby would let you in behind the counter and let you scoop +tobacco into a paper sack, and when his back was turned you could stand +under the Chinaman's head with the magic tobacco in it, and look up at +it and wonder what would happen if you took just one or two little teeny +whiffs--But I forget what I started to tell you. Oh, yes. Every time +Freddie visited the Old Tobacco Shop, Mr. Toby would ask him his name, +in order to see if he was grown up yet. + +"What's your name today?" Mr. Toby would say. + +"Fweddie," would be the Little Boy's answer. + +"Not yet," Mr. Toby would say, shaking his head sadly. "You ain't grown +up yet. I'm very sorry to have to tell you, son, but you've got to wait +a while before you're grown up. I'll tell you what; I'll give you six +months more," said Mr. Toby on one occasion. "If you ain't grown up by +that time, there's no hope for you; I hate to have to say it, but you +might as well know it one time as another." And the very next time the +Little Boy came he said his name was "Fweddie," and Mr. Toby said, +"Well, never mind, you've got five months and twenty-eight days left, +and there's hope yet. I suppose you wouldn't want to be a Little Boy +_all_ the time, and never grow up at all, would you?" Freddie looked up +at him in alarm and said, "No, sir." "Then," said Mr. Toby, "you'd +better mind your P's and Q's." + +Freddie wanted to ask about these P's and Q's, but you may have noticed +that he was shy, and he could not make up his mind to do so. He knew all +about P's and Q's in the Alphabet Book at home, but he did not know how +to mind them; he knew how to mind his mother,--sometimes, but how could +you mind letters in a book, that couldn't ever say "Don't do that," like +mother? He was very anxious on this point, for he knew that his time was +growing short, and the idea of never growing up was simply terrifying; +he might as well smoke cigarettes and be done with it. In point of fact, +he now had only about a week left, and he wasn't grown up yet. + +But one morning, when the hands of the church clock were wide apart, and +all was safe, he passed by Mr. Punch and opened the shop door. Mr. Toby +was standing behind the counter, tying up a parcel. He went on tying it +up, and said: + +"All right, young feller, it's your turn next. This here package is for +the Sly Old Codger, and he'll be back for it pretty soon, and if it +ain't ready,--whew! won't we get blown up, though? Now then, what'll you +have? Pound o' Maiden's Prayer?" + +"No, sir," said the Little Boy. "I don't want anything. I just came." + +"Oh; you just came. By the way, young man, what is your name today?" + +"Freddie!" said the Little Boy. + +Mr. Toby dropped his package and leaned across the counter in amazement. + +"What's that you say?" + +"Freddie!" cried the Little Boy, bursting with pride. + +"Well! Bless my soul! If I ever in my life! As sure as the world! Strike +me dead if he didn't say it as plain as--! Young man," said Mr. Toby, +solemnly, and he walked to the end of the counter, opened the swinging +gate, came through, stood in front of Freddie, and shook him by the +hand. "Young man, I congratulate you. It's all right now. But you had an +almighty close shave, I can tell you that. Allow me to congratulate you, +and accept the best wishes of your kind friend, Toby Littleback." + +"Please, sir," said Freddie, opening his eyes wide, "am I grown up now?" + +Mr. Toby stared without speaking, and then threw out both his arms, and +for a moment it looked as if he were going to hug the Little Boy, but he +evidently thought better of it. + +"Are you--? Why, of course you are! Ain't I been telling you? But don't +you go and presume on it too much, young feller! You don't think you can +go and smoke cigarettes now, just because you're grown up, do you?" + +"Oh no, sir," said Freddie, earnestly. + +"I should hope not. And that there Chinaman's head up there--you don't +think you can go and smoke that magic tobacco now, do you? Because if +you do!" + +"No, sir," said Freddie; but he said this a little doubtfully, and he +looked at the Chinaman's head with more interest than ever. What was the +use of being grown up if you couldn't take a little risk now and then? + +"All right, then!" cried Mr. Toby. "We've got to have a little +celebration over this here event, and we'd better go in and see Aunt +Amanda about it, right now!" + +He grasped Freddie's hand again, and pulled him to the back door, and +through into the back room where Aunt Amanda was sitting by the table +with the wax flowers, sewing. + +"Quick! quick! Tell Aunt Amanda your name now, quick! What's your name?" +cried Mr. Toby. + +"Freddie!" said the Little Boy, very distinctly, but looking down at the +carpet, for fear he should seem proud. + +"We're grown up today," cried Mr. Toby, "and we've got to celebrate!" + +Aunt Amanda raised her eyebrows in astonishment, and said: + +"Esheeraybysart!" + +She put her hand to her mouth and somehow got out into her hand a good +mouthful of pins. She laid them down on the table at her elbow, and +said: + +"Bless the dear baby's heart! And are you grown up now?" + +"Yes'm," said Freddie, looking up and then down again, for he did not +wish to seem too proud. + +Aunt Amanda looked at him for a moment, and took out her handkerchief +and blew her nose very loud. + +"Toby," she said, "what did you mean by a celebration?" + +"Tomorrow's Saturday," said he. + +"Well, what of it?" + +Freddie could not understand very well what they were saying after that, +except that he was concerned in it somehow, until he heard Aunt Amanda +say: + +"You'd better ask his mother, then." + +"Young man," said Mr. Toby, "if I write a letter to your ma, will you +give it to her?" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, whereupon Mr. Toby sat down at the other side +of the table, with pen and paper and ink, and commenced to write. + +"First," said Aunt Amanda, "there's some of that fruit-cake from last +Christmas still in the--" + +"Right you are!" cried Toby, jumping up and going out into the kitchen. + +Freddie ate the fruit-cake, sitting on a hassock at Aunt Amanda's feet, +while Toby went on with his letter, but in the midst of it Toby went out +again, and finally came back with a tall glass of ice-cold lemonade. + +"Don't you go and spill it on the carpet," said he, as he sat down to +his writing. + +"No, sir," said Freddie. + +Aunt Amanda looked at him, as he sat so seriously on his hassock at her +feet, munching his fruit-cake and sipping his lemonade; and she pulled +out her pocket-handkerchief and blew her nose again, very loud. She +appeared to have a cold. Toby paid no attention to her; his head was +lying sidewise on his left arm on the table, and he was squinting at the +sheet of paper, and every time his pen came down he closed his mouth +tight, and every time his pen went up he opened his mouth wide. Freddie +and Aunt Amanda had plenty of time to talk. Under the softening +influence of fruit-cake and lemonade Freddie found his tongue. + +"What's a Churchwarden?" he said suddenly into the lemonade-glass, which +was just under his nose. + +"Bless the baby!" said Aunt Amanda. + +"It's a long clay pipe, young man," said Toby, chewing the end of his +pen-holder, "like you've seen in the case out there in the shop." + +"That ain't what he means," said Aunt Amanda. "You mean a man, don't +you, Freddie?" + +"Yes'm," said Freddie, looking at the cake just going into his mouth. + +"It's a man," said Aunt Amanda, "it's a man that belongs to a church, +and he stands guard over the church property, and sees to the repairs, +and beats little boys with a cane when they make a noise during service, +and takes care nobody don't run away with the collection money, and----" + +"How do you spell 'respectfully'?" said Toby, scratching his head with +the pen. "Yours respectfully." + +"R-e--" began Aunt Amanda, "s-p-e-c-k--no, that ain't right,--r-e-s--" + +"There's one over at that church," said Freddie, pointing towards the +window, "and he smokes one, too." + +"One what, Freddie?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"A Churchwarden. There's a Churchwarden sits out on the pavement and he +smokes a Churchwarden, he does." Freddie was rather proud that he had +mastered that difficult word, and he liked to hear himself say it. + +"Oh," said Toby, "I reckon he means the sextant over there. Well, 'Yours +respectfully.' I don't give a--hum!--how you spell it. There she goes. +Done. 'Yours respectfully, Toby Littleback.' It's blotted up some, by +crackey, that's a fact; but I ain't a-goin' to write all that over +again, not by a jugful." And he took out his handkerchief and wiped the +perspiration from his forehead. + +"He's a Churchwarden," insisted Freddie, swallowing the last of the +lemonade after the last of the cake. + +"All right," said Toby, "have it your own way. But a sextant's as good +as a Churchwarden, in _my_ opinion, any day of the week,--except Sunday, +of course." + +Aunt Amanda inspected the letter, and declared herself horrified by the +blots; but Toby positively refused to go through that exhausting labor +again, so she passed it grudgingly, and handed it to Freddie in an +envelope, and told him to give it to his mother as soon as he got home. + +"Do you want some more cake and lemonade?" said she. + +"Yes'm," said he. + +"Well, you won't get it, so trot along home." + +In the shop Mr. Toby showed him the churchwarden pipes in the show-case. +Freddie wondered how it would taste to smoke some of that magic tobacco +in the Chinaman's head in a churchwarden pipe. + +As he passed the church on his way home, he looked for the fat old man +who usually sat in his chair tilted back against the wall, but he was +not there. Freddie wished to ask him about those noises up in the tower +when Mr. Punch and his father were having their high jinks; he had never +been able to screw up his courage to the point of asking about this, but +now that he was grown up he thought he might be able. + +He gave the letter to his mother, and she read it; but she said nothing +to him about it. When his father came home in the evening, she showed +the letter to him, and they talked about it, and Freddie could not +understand very well what they were saying. Finally his father said: + +"Well, I don't think there would be any harm in it." + +"I suppose not," said his mother. "I'll see them in the morning. He had +better wear his Sunday suit and his new shoes." + +This was bad, because it sounded like Sunday-school, and the shoes +squeaked. Freddie thought he had better change the subject, so he said: + +"I'm grown up. I can say Freddie. Mr. Toby says so." + +His father laughed, but his mother took him up in her arms and hugged +him close to her breast. + +The next day was in fact Saturday, and after lunch Freddie's mother +helped him, or rather forced him, into his Sunday suit and his new +shoes, after a really outrageous piece of washing, which went not only +behind the ears but actually into them. She put his cap on his head--he +always had to move it a trifle afterwards,--looked at his finger-nails +again, pulled down his jacket in front and buttoned every button, +straightened out each of the four wings of his bow tie, took off his cap +to see if his hair was mussed and put it on again, pulled down his +jacket in front, straightened his tie, altered the position of his cap, +put both her arms around him and kissed him, and told him it was nearly +two o'clock and he had better hurry. As soon as she had gone in, after +watching him go off down the street, he unbuttoned every button of his +jacket, put his cap on the back of his head, and in crossing the +street-car track deliberately walked his shiny squeaking shoes into a +pile of street-sweepings; he then felt better, and went on towards the +Old Tobacco Shop. + +As he came to the church, he stopped to look at the hands of the clock; +he was in luck; the hands would not be together for ever so long, for it +was ten minutes to two. The Churchwarden was sitting in his chair tilted +back against the wall, keeping guard over his church; and he was smoking +his churchwarden pipe. Freddie walked by very slowly, and his shoes +squeaked aloud on the brick pavement. The fat old man gazed at him +solemnly, and Freddie looked at the fat old man. The Churchwarden's +chair came down on the pavement with a thump. + +"Look here!" he said. "This ain't Sunday! What's the meaning of all +this? It's against the rules to wear them squeaking shoes of a Saturday! +The Dean and Chapter has made that rule, by and with the advice and +consent of the City Council, don't you know that? And all that big red +necktie, too! Did you think it was Sunday?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie, for he was always honest, even in the face of +danger. "I couldn't help it. I didn't want to, but mother made me----" + +"Ah! that's it. I thought maybe you'd made a mistake in the day; then it +wouldn't 'a' been so bad. Look here; it's my duty to report this here +violation of the Sunday law, but as long as--you're sure you ain't +_particeps criminis_?" + +"No, sir," said the Little Boy earnestly. "My name's Freddie." + +"Well, that makes it different. I though you was another party; young +party-ceps; but if you ain't, why--Here; you'll need something to show, +in case you should meet the Archdeacon, and he'd want to know why I +hadn't reported you--Show him this, and he'll know it's all right." + +The fat Churchwarden fished in his vest pocket and drew out, between a +fat thumb and a fat forefinger, a round shining piece of metal, and put +it in Freddie's hand. Freddie saw that it was a bright new five-cent +piece, commonly called a nickel. He felt better. + +"If you don't meet the Archdeacon between here and Littleback's Tobacco +Shop," went on the Churchwarden, "you don't need to keep it any longer; +I don't care what you do with it then; only not pickles, mind you!" + +"No sir," said Freddie. + +This was his chance to inquire about Mr. Punch's father and the noises +in the tower, but it was out of his power to stay longer; he was too +glad to escape without being reported; and he accordingly went off down +the street, squeaking worse than ever, and positively hurrying. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN WHICH MR. HANLON MAKES A GREAT IMPRESSION + + +Freddie found no one in the Tobacco Shop, so he knocked on the door of +the back room, and it was instantly opened by Mr. Littleback himself; +but a Mr. Littleback so resplendent that Freddie hardly knew him. + +The suit of clothes which Mr. Littleback wore was beyond any doubt a +brand new suit. The ground color of it was a rich mauve, if you know +what that is; not exactly purple, nor violet, but somewhere in between; +and up and down and across were stripes of brown, making good-sized +squares all over him; it was extremely beautiful. His collar was a high +white collar, very stiff, and it held up his chin in front like a +whitewashed fence. His necktie was of a pale-blue satin, with little +pink roses painted on it, yes sir, painted! mind you, by hand! It was +not one of those troublesome things that come in a single long piece and +take you hours before the glass to twist and turn over and under before +you can get them to look like a necktie; no indeed; it was far better +than that; it was tied already, by somebody who could do it better than +you ever could, and when you bought it, all you had to do was to put it +on; fasten those two rubber bands behind with a hook, and there you +were; perfect. As to hair, the hand of the barber was yet upon him; his +hair, parted on one side, was of a slickness which his own soap never +could have accomplished; on the wide side, it lay flat down over his +forehead, and there gave a sudden curl backward, like the curve of a +hairpin, but much more graceful; it is only the most studious barbers +who ever learn to do it just right. There were creases down the arms of +Mr. Toby's coat and down the front of his trouser-legs. A yellow silk +handkerchief showed itself, not boldly, but quietly, from his breast +pocket. + +As he let Freddie in, and in doing so turned his back to Aunt Amanda, +she screamed and cried out: + +"Toby! Look behind you! Merciful heavens!" + +Freddie, in the midst of his admiration of the magnificent creature, saw +him whirl about and look behind himself in alarm. His aunt pointed at +his coat and said sternly, "Come here." + +Freddie saw on the back of Mr. Toby's coat, near the bottom, as he +whirled about, a little square white tag. + +Mr. Toby backed up to his aunt, and stood before her, trying to look at +his back over his shoulder, while she took her scissors and clipped the +threads by which the white tag was sewed to the back of his coat. She +held up the tag; it had numbers printed and written on it. + +"Now ain't that just like you, Toby Littleback," she said, "going out +with your tag on your back, with your size on it and your height and +age, too, for all I know, for anybody to see that you've got on a +splittin' brand new suit right out o' the shop. If you'd 'a' gone out +with that on your back, I'd 'a' died with shame right here in this +chair. Ain't you even able to dress yourself?" + +"By crickets, that _would_ 'a' been bad," said Toby, considerably upset. +"However, you caught it in time, so there ain't no use cryin' over it. +Good-bye, Aunt; come along, Freddie, or we'll be late." + +"Ain't you goin' to wear a hat?" said Aunt Amanda. "I declare the man's +so excited he don't know what he's doing." + +"Blamed if I didn't come near going without a hat," said Toby. "Here she +is." + +He produced his hat from a cupboard in the room, and put it on. It would +have been a pity indeed for him to have gone without it. It was a white +derby; yes, a _white_ derby. It was the kind of a hat which was known in +that city as a "pinochle"; pronounced "pea-knuckle" by all well-informed +boys. With the mauve suit and the hand-painted necktie and the +whitewashed fence, the white derby set him off to perfection, especially +as he wore it a little towards the back of his head, so as to show the +loveliest part of the plastered curl of his hair on the forehead. Aunt +Amanda could not restrain her admiration. + +"You'll do now," she said. "I don't know that I ever seen you look so +genteel before." + +Toby, in the embarrassment of being considered genteel, put his hands in +his trousers pockets. + +"Take them hands out of your pockets," said Aunt Amanda sharply, and he +took them out in a hurry. + +"Now, Freddie," she said, "come here a minute, and I'll set you to +rights." + +Freddie stood before her knee, not very willingly, and she buttoned his +jacket from top to bottom, and put his cap squarely on his head. + +"Now you'd better be off," she said. + +"Good-bye, Aunt, and I wish you were going too," said Toby, his hand on +the door-knob. + +"Good-bye, Freddie," said she. + +"Good-bye," said Freddie. + +"Good-bye what?" said she. + +"Aunt Amanda," said he. + +When they were out in the street, and she heard Toby lock the shop door +behind him, she took out her handkerchief and blew her nose; her cold +was evidently worse, because she blew her nose several times; and then, +tucking her handkerchief away in her dress, she put her head down on +her arm on the table, and cried. + +The first thing Freddie did, as they went up the street, was to put his +cap back again on the back of his head, and the next thing he did was to +unbutton every button of his jacket, from top to bottom. + +The little hunchback was in a great hurry, and he dragged the Little Boy +along by the hand so fast that he could hardly keep up. As they hurried +along, several naughty boys, observing Mr. Toby's white derby hat, +called after him, very rudely, "Pea-knuckle! pea-knuckle!" But Mr. Toby +paid no attention, and dragged Freddie along faster than ever. + +"We don't want to miss any of it," said Mr. Toby. "Hurry up, boy." + +They did not have far to go; only four or five "squares." They stopped +before a great grimy brick building with a great wide entrance-way. + +"Here we are," said Toby. + +"What does that say up there?" said Freddie. + +"Gaunt Street Theatre," said Toby. "Hurry up." + +Freddie hung back before a signboard on which was a picture of a slender +man dressed up in white clothing, very tight, with red and black squares +on it; he was leaning against a table; his head and face were a dead +white, except for red eyebrows, and a red spot in each cheek, and he had +no hair, but a smooth dead-white skin from his forehead to the back of +his neck. The peculiar thing was, that his head was on the table beside +him, and not on his neck. Freddie pointed to the writing underneath the +picture, and said: + +"What does that say?" + +"Hanlon's Superba," said Toby, pulling him along. "Hurry up! We'll be +late." + +Mr. Littleback went to a little window in the wall, inside the +entrance-way, and spoke to a man in there, and evidently asked +permission to go in, and evidently got it; and they did go in, up a +flight of stairs, and found themselves suddenly among thousands and +thousands of people, as it seemed, all sitting in chairs facing the same +way, in a vast house lit up by gas light so that it was almost as bright +as day; and Toby and Freddie sat down in the very front row of these +people, and looked down over a railing in front of them on the heads of +thousands and thousands, as it seemed, of other people, all sitting in +chairs facing the same way. Everybody was facing towards a straight wall +at the other side of the house, which had pictures painted on it. At the +foot of this wall, in a kind of trench, there was a man at a piano, and +there were other men with fiddles big and little, and still others with +brass things, and they were all playing a tremendous tune together, but +just after Toby and Freddie had sat down, they stopped playing and Toby +nudged Freddie with his elbow, and said: + +"Now, then, young feller, what do you think of this, eh? Just you wait! +Keep your eye on that curtain!" + +He had no sooner said this than somewhere in the house somebody gave a +piercing whistle between his fingers, and in a minute there was such a +racket that it was impossible to talk. There must have been people above +them, and they must certainly have all been boys; for from up there +Freddie heard a clapping of hands and a stamping of feet, all in a +regular time, which spread to the whole house, and in the midst of it +the boys up there began to shout and call and whistle, and in a few +minutes there was such a hubbub as only boys could make, with whistling +between the fingers leading the riot. Toby nudged Freddie again with his +elbow, and to Freddie's surprise began to clap his hands and stamp his +feet with the rest; and as Freddie thought he ought to be polite, he +clapped his hands, too, though he did not know very well what it was all +about. + +Suddenly the men in the trench at the foot of the painted wall struck up +again, and that quieted the other noise for a moment; but only for a +moment; someone whistled through his fingers, and in an instant those +fiddlers might as well have been sawing away at their fiddles out at the +Park, for all you could hear them; and right in the midst of it all, +while Freddie was trying to shout the word "Peanuts" into Toby's ear, +suddenly the lights went out and you could have heard a pin drop. + +"Now then! now then!" whispered Mr. Toby, in great excitement. "Now +you'll see! Watch the curtain! It's going up!" + +From down there in that dark trench came the sound of a soft twittery +kind of music, and at the same time the painted wall that Freddie had +been looking at was rising! going up! And it went on up and up out of +sight into the ceiling, and there behind it, in a dim light, there +behind it, mysterious and fearsome and delicious,--Well, there behind it +was Fairyland. Just Fairyland. + +I can't describe it to you. Freddie never forgot it. If you haven't seen +Hanlon's Superba, in some old Gaunt Street Theatre or other, on a +Saturday afternoon, with the galleries wild with boys, you have not +lived. When Freddie tried to tell his mother and his father about it +that night, it was such a whirling mass of wonders and glories that they +could not make head nor tail of it. It is useless to speak of the Fairy +Queen in her glittering white, coming to the rescue in the nick of time +with her diamond sceptre, or of the horrible demons, or the trouble and +excitement they made for everybody, or of the beautiful young lady +who--and such leapings and twistings and climbings and tumblings as no +mere human beings with bones in them could ever have performed--it is no +use; it is best not to try to describe it. But there was one part +which, although it may seem to you the most unlikely thing in the world, +really had a good deal to do with Freddie afterwards. There was the same +man whose picture he had seen outside on the signboard; and he could +climb straight walls and leap through high windows and tumble across +floors in a way which passed belief; but there was one thing he could +not do; he could not talk; he never spoke a word from beginning to end. +Once, after having escaped from a parcel of wicked red imps, he sat +down, tired out and starved to death, before a table loaded with food, +and he commenced to make a hearty meal; but just as he was about to +sample each plate it disappeared, vanished, completely out of sight, +right under his nose. His distress was pitiable, and Freddie thought it +cruel of everybody to laugh, as everybody did. On his plate were +sausages, and he nearly got them; but just as he thought he had them, +they actually jumped off the table and ran along the floor and up the +wall; and the poor man had to climb the wall after them, which he did +like a cat, and even then he never came up with them; he was terribly +disappointed; and to finish off his miseries, at last a wicked creature +with a sword came up behind him, as he was leaning his head down on the +table in despair, and cut off his head before your very eyes; really and +truly cut it off; there was no doubt about it; the head was on the table +and the poor man was in the chair; Freddie was terrified, and clutched +Mr. Toby's arm. But when the wicked murderer had gone away, back popped +the head onto the dead man's neck, his eyes opened, he grinned from ear +to ear, and there he was on his feet, skipping and tumbling, as lively +as ever; and at that Freddie and all the others in the house roared and +shouted and clapped their hands. + +"Is that Mr. Hanlon?" whispered Freddie into Mr. Toby's ear. + +"Reckon it is," said Toby, too excited himself to pay much attention to +Freddie. + +But it could not last forever. Even the peanuts, which Toby bought for +Freddie between the first and second acts, were all gone, and the +curtain was down for the last time, and the crowd crushed through the +doors, and Mr. Toby put on his white derby hat. + +They were in the street, and the speechless Mr. Hanlon was a thing of +the past. Freddie did not believe that he would ever see that dumb and +loose-headed man again; but in that he was mistaken, as you shall see. + +Toby left him at the corner near his father's house. + +"What I say is," said Toby, "three cheers for our growing-up party!" + +"Yes," said Freddie, "and three cheers for Mr. Hanlon!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CHINAMAN'S HEAD + + +For a long time afterwards, Freddie dreamed at night of a hunchbacked +man whose head came off and popped on again, and wicked red demons who +chased a poor man with a white face who tried to cry for help and could +not speak a word, and of a Chinaman's head without a body, smoking a +long clay pipe. In the daytime, he thought a good deal about the people +he was now acquainted with: Mr. Toby with his white derby hat, Aunt +Amanda swallowing pins, the sailorman from China, Mr. Punch and his +father, Mr. Hanlon with his head on the table, the Churchwarden smoking +his churchwarden pipe, and the two old Codgers, one so sly and the other +so beggarly; but that which occupied his mind more than anything else +was the Chinaman's head on Mr. Toby's shelf. + +Freddie was older now, and as time went on it might be thought that he +would have grown accustomed to all these strange things; but he had not; +far from it; he thought about them more and more, and most of all about +the Chinaman's head and the magic tobacco. He really could not get that +Chinaman's head out of his mind. Here was magic just within reach of +your hand, and you were told that you mustn't touch it. You might as +well have Aladdin's lamp in your bureau drawer, and be told to keep away +from the bureau; even parents ought to know better than to expect such a +thing. Anyway, what harm could just one or two little whiffs do? You +needn't smoke a whole pipeful, if you didn't want to. However, Mr. Toby +would not be pleased, and Freddie did not intend to do anything to +displease Mr. Toby. Still, it did seem a pity, with such a chance right +over your head--Oh, well, he would think no more about it; he fixed his +mind on other things; he thought especially about a hymn they sang +nearly every Sunday in Sunday-school; it was a great help; he knew it by +heart, and it went like this: + + "Yield not to temptation, + For yielding is sin, + Each vict'ry will help you + Some other to win." + +He resolved he would never think about the magic tobacco again; he went +to sleep saying over to himself, "Yield not to temptation," and dreamed +all night about the Chinaman's head, and thought about it all the next +day. + +In order to get it out of his mind, he called on Aunt Amanda. It was +late in the afternoon; he sat on his hassock and watched Aunt Amanda +sewing. Mr. Toby was in the shop, waiting on customers. Freddie watched +for a long time, and then said: + +"What are you doing?" + +"Basting," said Aunt Amanda. + +"I thought that was what you did to a turkey," said Freddie. + +"So it is," said Aunt Amanda. + +"That isn't a turkey," said Freddie. + +"No," said Aunt Amanda, "you baste a turkey with gravy." + +"That isn't gravy," said Freddie. + +"It's different," said Aunt Amanda. "You see, I have to sew this up with +needle and thread, and----" + +"You sew up a turkey with needle and thread, too," said Freddie. + +"But that's different," said Aunt Amanda. "You couldn't baste a turkey +with needle and thread, and you couldn't baste dress-goods with +gravy----" + +"Why not?" said Freddie. + +"Well," said Aunt Amanda, "well, you see, they don't do it that way; +it's _different_; it ain't the same thing at all; it's like this; when +you baste a turkey----" + +"Have you ever had any children?" said Freddie. + +Aunt Amanda put her hand to her heart suddenly, as if she had received a +shot there, and caught her breath; then she looked out of the window, +and then round at the wax flowers on the table, and then at the door, +and she really seemed to be thinking of running away. But she was too +lame to do that, and she at last clasped her fingers together tight in +her lap, and looked hard at Freddie. He was gazing at her calmly, +waiting for information. + +"No," said Aunt Amanda, "I have never--had--any--children." + +"Why not?" said Freddie. + +"I have--never--been married," said Aunt Amanda. + +Freddie thought about this for a moment. + +"Didn't anybody ever want you?" said he. + +"No," said she, "nobody--ever--wanted--me." + +Freddie was puzzled. + +"But you're nice," said he. + +"That ain't enough," said Aunt Amanda. + +"What else do you have to be?" + +"You have to be pretty." + +"Weren't you ever pretty?" + +"I thought--so--once, but--but--I must have been mistaken. I guess I +never was." + +Freddie thought it over, and announced his decision seriously. + +"_I_ would want you, anyway." + +Aunt Amanda stretched out a trembling hand to him and ran her fingers +through his hair; then she threw both her arms around him and pressed +him against her knee. He was much annoyed. He was afraid she might be +going to kiss him; but she did not; instead, she pulled out her +handkerchief and blew her nose. + +"How many children were there that you didn't have?" said Freddie, to +change the subject. Aunt Amanda did not understand this at first, but +she finally saw what he meant. What _did_ he mean? you may say. What he +meant was--well, it is perfectly clear, but it is hard to explain. +Anyway, Aunt Amanda understood him. "Three," said she. "Bobby was the +oldest, and Jenny next, and James was the littlest one." + +"Did they all go to school?" + +"Oh dear no. Only Bobby. And once he played hookey, and was gone +all day, and didn't come home until after dark, all muddy. I +was terribly worried. He was a very mischievous boy, but he was +his--mother's--own----" + +"Did he play marbles for keeps?" + +"Yes, but he went to Sunday-school just as regular, and liked it, +and----" + +"He _liked_ it?" + +"Yes, of course, and he always took good care of Jenny----. She had +little yellow curls. They went to Sunday-school together hand in hand, +and he didn't even mind her carrying her dolly with her; she wouldn't go +without it. He was so careful of her at street-crossings. She loved her +dollies. She used to pretend that James was one of them." + +"Did James like that?" + +"Not very well, but he put up with it for quite a few minutes at a time. +He couldn't be still very long. But he was pretty lonesome when Jenny +had the measles." + +"I've had the chicken-pox. Did Bobby know how to mind his P's and Q's?" + +"He didn't mind anybody very well. Once I had a note from his teacher, +and it said----" + +But Freddie never learned what sin Bobby had committed in school; for at +that moment the shop door opened, and Mr. Toby thrust in his head and +said: + +"Just got to get around to the barber-shop right away this minute; can't +put it off no longer. Won't be gone twenty minutes. Freddie!" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, standing up. + +"Do you think you could look after the shop for twenty minutes, while +I'm gone?" + +Now Freddie did not know it, but this was in fact the most important +question that had ever been put to him in his life. Everything depended +on his answer; if he said no, we might as well stop this story right +here; if he said yes---- + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. + +"All right. If anybody comes in, just tell 'em to wait." + +Freddie left Aunt Amanda, sitting very still, and gazing out of the +window, with her hands folded in her lap, and followed Mr. Toby into the +shop. + +"All right, sonny," said Mr. Toby, "make yourself comfortable. I'll be +back in a jiffy. If anybody comes in, you tell 'em to wait." And with +that he went out of the door and up the street. Freddie was left alone +in the shop. + +Everything was very quiet now, for it was beginning to be twilight, and +all the people seemed to be indoors. He knew he ought to be going home, +but he had promised to mind the shop, and it would never do to leave +before Mr. Toby came back. The street door and the door to Aunt Amanda's +room were both closed. He sat down on the chair by the front window and +looked out across the bull-dog's head. He thought of Bobby and his +little sister in Sunday-school, and that led him to think of the hymn +that did him so much good: + + "Yield not to temptation, + For yielding is sin." + +He sang that tune to himself for a while, and he found himself singing +other tunes, and finally one which began: + + "There was an old codger, and he had a wooden leg, + And he never bought tobacco when tobacco he could beg." + +Tobacco! There was a world of tobacco on those shelves. Smoking tobacco, +and churchwarden pipes. He strolled around behind the counter, and let +down the back of the show-case. There were the churchwarden pipes; he +selected one and took it out. It tasted cold and clammy when he put it +in his mouth, and he wondered what it would taste like with tobacco in +it. He brought the little ladder and got up on it, facing the shelves, +and to his surprise he found himself looking directly into the slanting +eyes of the porcelain Chinaman's head. He stood there gazing +thoughtfully into those eyes, and singing to himself the verse which was +always such a help to him: + + "Yield not to temptation, + For yielding is sin, + Each vict'ry will help you + Some other to win." + +It was growing a little darker now, and he could not examine the +Chinaman's head very well without bringing it closer. He took the head +in his hands, lifted it from the shelf, got down off the ladder, and sat +down on the floor with his back against the counter; and while he was +doing this he hummed to himself the next part of his tune: + + "Fight manfully onward, + Dark passions subdue." + +He put the head on his knees, and took off the Chinaman's little round +cap, which proved to be in fact a lid. He put his hand inside and drew +out a good fistful of absolutely black tobacco, fine and powdery like +coal-dust; he held it to his nose, and it smelt very sweet, in fact much +like brown sugar. He wondered if it would taste like brown sugar through +the pipe-stem; and humming quietly to himself, "Each vict'ry will help +you," he poured the tobacco into the bowl of the pipe. He was +disappointed, on sucking in through the pipe-stem, to find that there +was no brown-sugar taste at all. Of course, the only way to give tobacco +any taste was to light it; he reached up and got a match off the counter +behind him, and sitting down again struck the match on the floor. It +made a very pretty glow in the twilight, and he watched it as it burned +away in his fingers; it would be burnt out in another second, so, +humming to himself those ever-helpful words, "Yield not to temptation," +he put the pipe in his mouth and touched the lighted match to the +tobacco. + +It is painful to have to tell these things, but it can't be helped; for +the consequences were so strange, and so important to Freddie and his +friends, that---- + +Anyway, he lit the pipe and drew in a long breath through the stem. He +nearly choked to death. Smoke got into his nose and his eyes and his +throat, and he coughed and coughed; but he remembered the words, "Fight +manfully onward," and he determined that he would not give up so soon. +He stopped coughing and pulled again at the pipe; this time he did not +swallow the smoke, but blew it out of his mouth as he had seen it done a +thousand times. He gave another pull, and blew the smoke out again; it +did indeed taste like brown sugar; it was extremely pleasant; he puffed +again and again. He was astonished that he could have produced so much +smoke in a few whiffs; there was quite a cloud over his head. He gave +another puff, and when he blew out the smoke the white cloud above him +was so thick that he could not see through it. It began to settle down +on him. He put the Chinaman's head on the floor, and looked up into this +cloud. + +It was growing thicker and thicker, and it was beginning to churn about +as if in a whirlwind; it turned all sorts of colours, mostly yellow and +green, and parts of it looked like barber's poles revolving at a +terrific speed. He became dizzy as he gazed at it; his head began to +swim; the cloud was coming down closer and closer upon him, and whirling +about more and more wildly; he crouched down lower, and became dizzier +and dizzier. The counter and the shelves began to go round and round, so +that he had to put his hand on the floor to steady himself; in another +moment the shop disappeared altogether, and there was nothing under him +but a little square of floor, and nothing over him but the wild, +churning cloud, now sparkling with jets of fire. He felt himself +falling, falling, and as he came to the bottom with a crash, he heard +the shop door open and close, and found himself sitting on the floor +with his back to the counter as before, with no smoke anywhere to be +seen; and he was aware that a hoarse voice was speaking on the other +side of the counter, and it was saying these words, very loud and brisk: + +"Avast, there! Belay that piping! All snug, sir, hatches battened down, +makin' way under skysails and royals, hands piped to quarters, and +here's your humble servant ready for orders! Shiver my timbers, where's +the skipper? Piped me up with a 'baccy pipe, he did, and where's he +gone? Skipper ahoy! Come for orders, I be, and ever yours to command, +Lemuel Mizzen! That's me!" + +Freddie put the pipe down on the floor, rose to his feet, and looked +over the counter. + +Leaning on his elbow on the other side of the counter was a Sailorman, +with a wide blue collar open at the throat, a flat blue cap with a black +ribbon on the back of his head, and a green patch over his right eye. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LEMUEL MIZZEN, A.B. + + +Freddie looked at the Sailorman, and the Sailorman straightened up and +touched his cap. His face was brown as weathered oak, and creased like +bark; his one eye was black and glittering; the hand which he raised to +his cap was of the shape and nearly the size of a ham; and the chest and +throat which emerged from his wide-open shirt-collar was as brown as his +face, and big with muscles. There was a delicious odour of tar about +him; you positively could not look at him without hearing wind whistling +through ropes. He hitched up his trousers with his other hand and said: + +"Ay, ay, skipper! Here I be as big as life, all ready fer orders!" + +As Freddie gazed at him, the Little Boy slowly collected his wits, and a +light began to dawn upon him. + +"Have you been to China?" said he. + +"Right-o!" cried the Sailorman. "To China I have been----" in a queer +sing-song, as if he might have been marching in time to it round a +capstan, hauling in an anchor: "To China I have been, and a many ports +I've seen, near and far; I can sail before the mast or behind it just as +fast, I'm a tar, I'm a tar, I'm a tar!" + +Freddie continued to stare at him with increasing astonishment. + +"Are you a sailor, sir?" said he. + +"Wot, me? I'm Lemuel Mizzen, A.B., that's me, and I sail the deep blue +sea from Maine to Afrikee, and round again on an even keel to Cochin +China for cochineal, and back to Chili for Chili sauce, and home again +to Banbury Cross--that's me! Lemuel Mizzen, able seaman! Fed on hard +tack or soft tack, or a starboard tack or a port tack, it's all the same +to me! Now then, skipper, you piped me up, wot's the orders?" + +"Please, sir," said Freddie, "would you mind telling me what it is you +would like to have?" + +"_Me?_ Douse my binnacle light, wot I want is a chew o' terbacker; but +the question before the chart-house is, wot do _you_ want, skipper?" + +"I don't want anything," said Freddie. + +"Wot? You piped me up, didn't you? Piped me up with a pipe?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie. + +"Sorry to entertain a different opinion from the skipper! Didn't you +smoke the Chinaman's 'baccy, _in_ a pipe?" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, hanging his head. + +"Then you did pipe me up with a pipe, and I hope I knows better than to +come aft without bein' piped. Didn't you know I've got to come when you +smoke the pipe with the Chinaman's 'baccy in it?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie. + +The Able Seaman fixed his black eye on Freddie in amazement. + +"Well, bust my locker if this ain't the--Beggin' your pardon, skipper, +and no offense meant! Called me off from the China Sea, and don't want +me after all! Didn't go fer to do it, not him! And me off in the China +Sea amongst the Boxers, a-v'yaging hither and thither to pick up a cargo +o' boxes to box compasses with! Ye've brought me a fair long journey fer +nothin', skipper!" + +[Illustration: "I'm Lemuel Mizzen, A.B., that's me!"] + +"I'm very sorry, sir," said Freddie, "I didn't know you had to come when +the Chinaman's tobacco was smoked. Are you the one that brought that +tobacco here?" + +"Ay, ay! That's me! Lemuel Mizzen, A.B.! And a fine long trip from the +China Sea, to come to a lad in Amerikee when I hears in my ears the +skipper's call, and all fer nothin' at all, at all! Ain't you got +nothin' to offer in extenuation?" + +Freddie did not know what "extenuation" meant, but he could see by the +Sailorman's face that that gentleman was a good deal put out. He +remembered that Mr. Mizzen wanted a chew of tobacco. + +"Would a little tobacco make you feel better?" said he. + +"Now you've got yer hand on the right rope!" said the Able Seaman, his +face brightening. "I don't smoke. I chew. If you're goin' to offer a bit +of a chew, why then, says I, I don't care if I do." + +Freddie took a long plug of chewing tobacco from the shelf behind him. +He knew that Mr. Toby would not mind making a little gift to the +sailorman after his long journey. He put the plug under the cutter on +the counter, and was about to press down the handle, to cut off a +portion, when the Able Seaman hitched up his trousers and said: + +"Belay there, skipper! Put the whole cargo aboard! This here craft needs +ballast; hoist her over the side!" And he reached out his hand for the +whole plug of tobacco and took it from Freddie, and gnawed off a corner +with his teeth. + +"Ah!" said he, his right cheek bulging out. "Too much ballast to +starboard." And he gnawed off another corner, so that his left cheek +bulged out like his right. + +"All snug!" said he. "I'll just pay fer my cargo before I set sail, with +a bit of a draft on the owners, in a manner of speakin'. Here y'are, +sir. Stow that bit o' paper in yer sea-chest, and it'll come in handy +one o' these days. Pay as you go, says I." + +He placed in Freddie's hand a folded sheet of soiled paper. It was +greasy with handling, and was evidently very old; it was folded small +and tight, and was beginning to break with age at the creases. On the +outside, it was blank; but there might have been writing inside. + +"Got it in the Caribbean off a runaway sailor, fer a set of false +whiskers and a tattoo needle. Will it do to pay fer the cargo with?" + +"Yes, sir; thank you," said Freddie, holding the paper in his hand +without unfolding it. + +"Then all I got to say is, before I weighs anchor,--take good keer o' +that there bit o' paper. Aloft and alow, don't ye never let go; round +the yard take a bight and hold on to it tight; let the harricane blow +till yer fingers is blue, but wotever you do, don't ye never let go. And +skipper, mind wot I'm a-tellin' you; if you ever needs Lemuel Mizzen, +A.B., fer to give him his orders, all you got to do is to smoke a couple +o' whiffs of the Chinaman's 'baccy, and Lemuel Mizzen, A.B., he'll be on +deck before the smoke's cleared away. That's clear?" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, with eyes wide open. + +"And now as I see there's no orders to give, I'm off to my tight little +bark called The Sieve, and when I'm aboard I'll close all the shutters, +and lock up the parrot that sneezes and stutters, and wake all the +skippers, and put on my slippers, and get into bed while the mates +overhead are swabbing the decks and heaving the lead and baling the +bilge-water up with their dippers; and when they have gotten the vessel +to going, and settled all down to their knitting and sewing, and the +twenty-third mate, who is always so late, has learned what is meant by a +third and last warning, I'll turn up the gas, take a look at the glass, +and read me the Life of Old Chew until morning!----And so, sir," +continued Mr. Mizzen, walking towards the street door, "I must give you +a view of my little stern-light, and bid you, dear sir, a very good +night." + +So saying, he turned squarely towards Freddie, with one hand on the +door-knob, and with the other hand touched his cap respectfully. Freddie +saw that his trousers were very wide at the ankles and very tight at the +hips, and that he rolled a little when he walked. Having touched his cap +respectfully, he opened the door and went out, and disappeared in the +darkness outside. + +Freddie stood looking after him with his mouth wide open. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE HANDS OF THE CLOCK COME TOGETHER + + +It was some minutes before Freddie recovered from his astonishment. +Certainly this was a strange Sailorman. And he had come all the way from +the China Sea at a puff of the Chinaman's tobacco! Certainly magic +tobacco, that! But it was a pity that Mr. Mizzen had been called away +from the China Sea, all for nothing, while he was so busy gathering +boxes to box compasses with! No wonder he had felt put out about it. And +it must have been a queer sort of ship, with its shutters, and all those +skippers and mates--did they really like to knit and sew after they had +got the ship to going? It would be a wonderful thing to sail in a ship +like that; he wished he had thought to ask Mr. Mizzen more about it. He +must tell Aunt Amanda at once. + +He ran to the back door and burst into the back room, crying out "Aunt +Amanda!" + +Aunt Amanda was sound asleep in her chair, with her head back and her +mouth open; the gas was burning brightly overhead, and the clock was +ticking away distinctly on the mantel-piece. + +"Aunt Amanda!" cried Freddie. + +She awoke with a jump, blinked her eyes, and said: + +"Hah! Where's the--what's the--who said--Where's Toby? What's the +matter?" + +"It's me, Aunt Amanda," cried Freddie, breathlessly, "and the +Sailorman's just been here and gone, and I called him with the pipe, and +I can call him whenever I want him, and he gave me a piece of paper, +and he talks like a singing-book, and there's a parrot that stutters, +and they have to bale out the water with dippers because the ship's +named The Sieve, and we mustn't lose the paper because the runaway +sailor wore false whiskers, and he feeds on tacks instead of pins, and +we have to hold on tight to the paper, and one of the men on the ship is +always late, and we mustn't lose the paper, because----" + +"Stop! Stop!" said Aunt Amanda. "What on earth is the child talking +about? What's all this about a Sailorman and a paper?" + +"He's the one that brought the Chinaman's tobacco from China, and he +gave me a piece of paper, and here it is, and we mustn't lose it, +because----" + +"One minute, Freddie! Now you just stand right there, perfectly still, +and tell me about it slowly. Now, then; what about this Sailorman? Slow, +slow." + +It was a long time before Freddie made her understand exactly what had +happened, but at last she did understand, from beginning to end. She was +grieved and horrified that he had smoked the tobacco, but there was no +help for it now, and she was too much excited by his tale to scold him +very long. + +"What's the paper he give you?" said she, when he had told her +everything. + +Freddie put the paper in her hand, and she unfolded it carefully. + +"Why," said she, "it's a map!" + +"What kind of a map?" said Freddie. + +"It's a map of an Island," said Aunt Amanda. "Where's Toby? I wish he +would come home. It looks like an Island, and there's writing here on +it. Looks like some sailorman might have drawn it, maybe; it's certainly +pretty old. I wish Toby would come." + +"What's the writing on it, Aunt Amanda?" said Freddie. + +"Well, here at the top it says, 'Correction Island,' and under that it +says, 'Spanish Main.' Bless me; that's where the pirates used to----" + +"Pirates?" said Freddie, his eyes sparkling. + +"Yes, pirates, of course. You've heard of the Spanish Main, haven't +you?" + +"Yes'm. It's a long way off. You have to go there in a ship. Have you +ever been there?" + +"Me? Me been to the Spanish Main? Mercy sakes, no, child! What would I +be doing on the Spanish Main? I ain't been outside of this town since I +was born." + +"Wouldn't I like to go there! Pirates!" said Freddie. "Oh jiminy!" + +"You mustn't use such dreadful language," said Aunt Amanda. "I wonder +where Toby is? Just look at that clock! Why, bless me, it's twenty-seven +minutes to seven." + +Freddie looked, and saw that the hands of the clock were together, one +on top of the other. It was the hour for Mr. Punch's father to call Mr. +Punch from the church-tower. + +"Toby's got to talkin' with that barber again, as sure as you live; when +they once begin, they never know when to leave off. I wish he'd----" + +As she said this, the door opened, and in walked Mr. Toby himself. + +"Sorry I'm so late," he cried, "but the barber got to talking +about--What, young feller, are you still here?" He turned and called +through the open door to someone behind him in the shop. "Come in! Make +you acquainted with my aunt and a young chap here--Don't be bashful, +come right in! Nobody's goin' to eat you!" + +Mr. Toby held the door wide open, and made way for a little gentleman +who now advanced into the room. He was a hunchbacked man, of the same +height as Toby, and he was holding out in one hand a bunch of black +cigars; he was bareheaded and bald-headed; he had high cheek-bones and a +big chin and a hooked nose; he wore blue knee breeches and black +stockings and buckled shoes, and his coat was cut away in front over his +stomach and had two tails behind, down to his knees. His joints creaked +a little as he walked. He made a stiff bow to Aunt Amanda, and another +one to Freddie. + +"Come in, Mr. Punch," said Toby, "you don't need to hold them cigars any +longer. Give 'em to me." And he took them from Mr. Punch and laid them +on the table. He then went to Mr. Punch and linked his arm in his, and +the two hunchbacks stepped forward together and stood before Aunt +Amanda. + +"Allow me to present my friend Mr. Punch," said Toby. "Just as I was +coming in, I heard a voice sing out 'Punch!' from the church-tower, and +Mr. Punch stepped down from his perch, and I invited him to come in, and +here we are." + +"Good hevening, marm," said Mr. Punch. His voice sounded harsh, as if +his throat were rusty. "Good hevening, young sir. Hit's wery pleasant +within-doors, wery pleasant indeed; Hi carn't s'y it's so blooming +agreeable hout there on my box, hall d'y and hall night; the gaslight is +wery welcome to me poor heyes, I assure you, marm. Hi trust I see you +well, marm." + +"Mercy on us!" said Aunt Amanda, who had been speechless with +astonishment. "Freddie, it's Mr. Punch himself, bless me if it ain't!" + +Freddie edged a little closer to Aunt Amanda, for he was afraid Mr. +Punch might snatch him up and carry him off to his father in the tower. +Mr. Punch noticed this. + +"'Ave no fear, me good sir," said Mr. Punch, his wide mouth expanding +in a smile, almost to his ears. "Hi sharn't see me father this night, +hif me kind friends will permit me to enjoy their society for a brief +period, together with their charmin' gaslight, which it is wery dim hall +night in the street and quite hunsatisfactory, accordingly most pleased +to haccept me friend Toby's kind 'ospitality, Hi assure you. One grows +quite cramped in one's legs and one's harms when one 'as to remain in +one position on one's box hall night, unless one's father should tyke +hit into 'is 'ead to call one hup for a bit of a lark, and one can never +be sure of one's father's 'aving it in 'is 'ead to call one hup, to s'y +nothing of one's fingers coming stiffer and stiffer with one's parcel of +cigars 'eld out in one's 'and, and no 'at on one's 'ead, and no 'air on +one's 'ead to defend one against the hevening hair, with one's nose +dropping hicicles in winter, so that one never knows when one will lose +one's nose off of one's fyce----" + +"Excuse me," said Aunt Amanda. It was evident that Mr. Punch was a +talkative person. "Are you an Englishman?" + +"Ho lor' miss, indeed!" said Mr. Punch. "A Henglishman as ever was, Hi +assure you. But I 'opes I give myself no hairs." + +Freddie gave up trying to understand the difference between air and +hair; it was plain enough that the bald-headed man had never given +himself any hair, so it couldn't be that. Anyway, this was an +Englishman, and Freddie was glad that he would now probably have a +chance to hear English spoken, which he had never heard before. + +"Toby," said Aunt Amanda, "Freddie has seen the Sailorman from China, +and he has a map. I'll tell you about it." + +Thereupon she related the story of Mr. Lemuel Mizzen, as she had got it +from Freddie. Mr. Toby and Mr. Punch were both tremendously impressed. + +"It's too bad," said Mr. Toby, "this young feller here had to go and +smoke the Chinaman's tobacco after I told him not to; it's too bad, +that's what it is. What did you mean by it, sir?" + +"Hit's a wery naughty haction indeed," said Mr. Punch. "Wery +reprehensible. Wery. Hi carn't s'y as I ever 'eard of a thing so +hextremely reprehensible. Now when Hi was a lad----" + +"You don't say so!" said Mr. Toby. "Well, I don't see anything so very +bad about it. I'd a' done it myself if I'd been in his place. What do +you mean by saying that my Freddie's reprehensible? I won't have nobody +callin' him names, I won't, and what's more----" + +"No offense, Toby! No offense!" cried Mr. Punch. "Sorry, Hi assure you. +Wery reprehensible of me to s'y such a thing. Wery. Pray be calm; be +calm." + +"Well, then," grumbled Toby, "don't you go and say nothing about +Freddie, because--Anyway, let's have a look at the map." + +At that moment there came a timid knock upon the door. + +"Who next?" said Toby. "Come in!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CELLULOID CUFFS AND A SILK HAT + + +The door opened, and there entered a poor-looking elderly man, bowing +and scraping as he came, and saluting the company with an old rusty +dented tall hat which he carried in his hand. The most striking thing +about him was that he had a wooden leg. His hair was grey and thin, and +his face was not very clean; there were signs of tobacco at the corners +of his mouth. His clothes were frayed and patched, and there was a good +deal of grease on his vest; he wore a celluloid collar without any +necktie, and round celluloid cuffs; his coat-sleeves were much too +short, and his cuffs hung out certainly three inches. Strange to say, +his collar and cuffs were spotlessly clean, and presented quite a +contrast to his very untidy face and clothes; but then, celluloid is +easy to clean; much less trouble than washing the face. As he stumped +into the room, he kept bowing humbly from one to another, and bobbing +his old hat up and down in his hand. + +"Ahem!" he said, making another bow. "I was just going by, and I thought +I would drop in to--er--ahem!--I hope I am not in the way?" + +"Oh, come in," said Toby, not very graciously. "As long as you are here, +you might as well stay. This is Mr. Punch, and this is Freddie." + +The elderly man bowed to Freddie, and went up to Mr. Punch and shook him +cordially by the hand. He put his mouth quite close to Mr. Punch's ear, +and lowered his voice, and said: + +"Ahem! I'm delighted to know you, sir. I trust you are well. I have seen +you often, but not to speak to. Ahem!" He lowered his voice again, and +spoke very confidentially into Mr. Punch's ear. "The fact is, sir, that +as I was going by, I suddenly found that I had left my tobacco pouch at +home; most unfortunate; and I came in with the hope that +perhaps--er--ahem! Very seldom forget my tobacco; very seldom indeed; +perfectly lost without it; do you--er, ahem!--do you happen to have such +a thing about you as a--er--ahem!--a small portion of--er--smoking +tobacco? I should be very much obliged!" + +"Sorry," said Mr. Punch, stiffly, backing away. "Hi never use tobacco in +any way, shape or form." + +The elderly man looked much disappointed, and sighed. He turned to Toby, +and bowed and smiled hopefully. + +"Perhaps Mr. Littleback--" he began. + +"Not on your life," said Toby. "You don't get no tobacco out of me, and +that's flat." + +The elderly man sighed again, and looked steadily at Freddie; but he +evidently thought there was no hope in that quarter, and he said +nothing. + +Freddie now realized who the elderly gentleman was. He had a wooden leg, +and he never bought tobacco when tobacco he could beg--It was the Old +Codger whom Mr. Toby had now and then sung a song about; one of his two +friends, the one who was always begging tobacco, and never had any of +his own. Freddie looked at him, and felt rather sorry for him. + +"Ahem!" said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg. "Very sorry to intrude, +Miss Amanda. I hope I'm not in the way. It's very mild weather we're +having." + +"Now, then," said Toby, briskly, "let's look at this map." + +As he said this, another knock was heard at the door; a firm and +confident knock this time. + +"Confound it!" said Toby. "Who next? Come in!" + +The door opened, and another elderly man stepped in; a tall slim man, +with very white hair and a long narrow face; he carried a tall shiny +black silk hat in his hand; he wore a black suit, all of broadcloth, and +his coat hung to his knees and was buttoned to the top; his cuffs and +collar and shirt were of beautiful white linen with a gloss, and his tie +was a little white linen bow. He came forward with an air of warm +benevolence. + +"My dear, _dear_ friends!" he said, and stretched out both hands towards +the company, as if to clasp them all to his heart. "What a beautiful, +beautiful scene! So homelike, so cosy, so sociable, so--so--What can be +so beautiful as the gathering together of friends about the family +hearth! _So_ beautiful!" There was a Latrobe stove in the room, but no +hearth; however, that made no difference; he went, with his hands +outstretched, to Aunt Amanda, and pressed one of hers in both of his. + +The Old Codger with the Wooden Leg immediately sidled up to him, and +while he was still pressing Aunt Amanda's hand, said, in a confidential +tone: + +"Ahem! I'm delighted to see you again. I trust you are well. The fact +is, I find that I have--er--left my tobacco pouch at home,--most +unfortunate; very seldom forget it; completely lost without it; I was +wondering--er--ahem!--if you happened to have such a thing about you as +a--" + +"No!" said the other old man, changing at once from beaming benevolence +to stern severity. "I'll be hanged if I do!" And he released Aunt +Amanda's hand, and turned his back on the Old Codger with the Wooden +Leg. + +"Now," said Toby, "let's look at the map. This here is Mr. Punch, and +this is Freddie." + +The newcomer took Mr. Punch's hand in both of his and squeezed it +softly; he then took Freddie's hand in both of his and pressed it +tenderly. Freddie knew him. He was the "other Old Codger, as sly as a +fox, who always had tobacco in his old tobacco-box." Freddie could +hardly believe that that white-haired old gentleman could be as sly as a +fox. + +"My dear, _dear_ friends!" said the Sly Old Fox. "What is so beautiful +as the love of friends?" He stopped to glare at the Old Codger with the +Wooden Leg, who looked away nervously. "The love of friends! Gathered +together around the family hearth! How beautiful! It touches me, my +friends, it touches me----" + +"That's all right about that," said Toby. "For heaven's _sake_, let's +look at the map!" + +Aunt Amanda spread out the map on the table beside her, and the others +gathered round. + +"It's an island!" cried Toby. + +"On the Spanish Main," said Aunt Amanda. + +"The Spanish Main!" said the Sly Old Fox. "A beautiful country! Full of +palms,--and grape-nuts,--What you might call a real work of nature! Full +of parrots, and monkeys, and lagoons, and other wild creatures; a work +of nature, my dear friends, a real work of nature." + +"And pirates," said Freddie, earnestly. + +"I _said_ parrots," said the Sly Old Fox. + +"_I_ said pirates," said Freddie. + +"Just what I said," said the Sly Old Fox. "That live in trees, my +little friend, in trees; and have red and blue feathers, and----" + +"Pirates don't have feathers," said Freddie. + +"Dear, dear!" said the Sly Old Fox. "How _can_ you say such a thing? How +_can_ you----?" + +"Did you ever see a pirate in a tree?" + +"In cages, my dear little friend! Hundreds of them!" + +"That's enough!" said Mr. Toby. "Quit wrangling for a minute, will you? +What about this here map? I tell you what, though. I'd like the +Churchwarden to see this map. Freddie, will you run down the street and +get the Churchwarden?" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, moving towards the door. + +"And tell him to bring along his Odour of Sanctity with him. He always +carries a bottle of it in his pocket, and we may need it. Don't forget +it." + +"No, sir," said Freddie. + +"Hold on a minute," said Mr. Toby, snatching up his hat. "I'll go for +him myself. I can do it quicker." And in a moment he was out of the +door. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ODOUR OF SANCTITY + + +While Toby was gone, Aunt Amanda explained to the two old men about the +Sailorman from China, and about his gift of the map which was lying on +the table. They were just at the end of their discussion when Toby +returned, bringing with him the Churchwarden, puffing and blowing with +the unusual exertion of walking, and without his pipe. Toby introduced +him to Mr. Punch and the two old Codgers, and drew him up to the table +and showed him the map, explaining at the same time how it came there. + +The Churchwarden examined the map carefully, while the others all looked +at him. He finally put down the map, settled himself in a chair, folded +his hands across his fat stomach, blew out his cheeks, and said: + +"My opinion is, that what we ought to do is to--I've considered the +matter carefully, from all sides, and I think we ought to--Of course you +may not agree with me, but I think the best thing to do would be +to--Unless, of course, some of you may think of something better, but if +you don't, then I can't say as there's anything better to do than +to----" + +At this moment there came a sound from the street outside which made +everyone but Aunt Amanda jump to his feet. It was the sound of running +feet, mixed with strange cries, not very loud, but somehow +blood-curdling. It was evident that someone was in trouble. Freddie and +the five men rushed from the room and through the shop and into the +street. + +The street was very dark, except for a gas-lamp at the opposite corner. +A white figure was running down the pavement towards the shop-door, with +frantic speed; and behind him, evidently chasing him, came a crowd of +little dark creatures, hard to make out in the dim light. It was these +creatures who were making the little blood-curdling cries. In a moment +they had come so near that the party about the shop-door could see what +they were. In front, running desperately with leaps and bounds, and +panting for breath, came a tall slim man all in tight-fitting white +clothes, with a dead white face and a white hairless head; and after +him, tumbling on pell-mell, was a perfect riot of little red imps, with +little horns on their foreheads, and little tails behind them, all +trying to spear the white man with the wicked little pitchforks which +they carried, and to seize him with their claws. Freddie thought they +were precisely like the imps he had seen at Hanlon's Superba. When the +white man reached the shop-door they had nearly caught him. He paused at +that moment, looked wildly about him, saw the open door of the shop, and +dashed in and banged the door to behind him. The imps came tumbling up +and hesitated an instant before the men at the door; and in that instant +the Churchwarden showed the most unexpected presence of mind. He quickly +reached behind him and drew a small bottle out of his pocket and pulled +out the cork and sprinkled a few drops of its contents on the ground +before him. A sharp penetrating odour immediately filled the air; it was +so intense that it made the tears come into Freddie's eyes; but what it +did to the wild mob of imps was almost beyond belief. As they got their +first whiff of it, they tumbled back over one another in a mad effort +to get away; but they could not get away from the odour quick enough; it +caught them and held them, so that in a moment they could not move; they +stood fixed and fast and silent; in another moment they began to melt +away, and in two minutes they had vanished; actually vanished where they +stood, each and every one, before the very eyes of the astonished party +before the door. + +"Blimy hif I ever see the like!" said Mr. Punch. + +"Never knew my Odour of Sanctity to fail once," said the Churchwarden, +coolly. "Hardly ever go out without it. There ain't a witch or an imp or +a bad spirit of any kind whatever can stand up against my Odour of +Sanctity, if he once gets a couple of good whiffs of it out of this +little bottle. Just a few drops from the bottle, and a few sniffs, and +whoof! they're done for! No, sir! there ain't no perfumery in the world +like Odour of Sanctity!" + +On the floor of the shop they found the poor white man lying completely +exhausted. They asked him to explain, but he could not speak. Mr. Toby +and Mr. Punch, one on each side, supported him into the back room, and +sat him down in a chair before Aunt Amanda. She held up her hands in +astonishment. The man was certainly a strange-looking man. They plied +him with questions, but he touched his tongue with his finger and shook +his head. He could not speak; he was dumb. Freddie, after one long look +at him under the gaslight, knew who he was. + +"It's Mr. Hanlon!" he cried, in great excitement. "It's Mr. Hanlon!" + +The dumb man looked at Freddie and smiled, and nodded his head. He rose +to his feet, shook Freddie's hand, and made a graceful bow to the whole +company. + +"It's Mr. Hanlon sure enough," said Toby, "still being chased by the +imps. Pretty near got him that time, too! But he got away safe and +sound after all, didn't he, eh?" And all the party, including Mr. Hanlon +himself, laughed with delight. And when the Churchwarden pulled out his +little perfume bottle and showed it around, and explained to Mr. Hanlon +what it had done, the poor man was so overcome that he put his head down +on the Churchwarden's shoulder and wept. + +"This'll never do!" cried Toby. "Ain't we never, _never_, going to get +down to this here map? I never _see_ such a time as I've had, trying to +examine this here map! One thing right after another! Mr. Hanlon, I'll +tell you what it's about, and then you can see it for yourself. Would +you like to stay here with our little party? It's a good deal safer than +out-of-doors." + +Mr. Hanlon nodded eagerly and smiled, and Toby explained everything to +him and showed him the map. + +"Now," said Toby, when that was done, "speak up, Warden, and finish what +you was a-saying!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CAPTAIN HIGGINSON AND THE SPANISH MAIN + + +The Churchwarden, having put back into his pocket the bottle of Odour of +Sanctity, folded his hands across his fat stomach and began again: + +"As I was saying----" + +"Never mind that," said Toby. "Tell us what we had better do." + +"Well, as I was saying," went on the Churchwarden, paying no attention +to Toby, "the best idea that occurs to me, after thinking it over +considerable, is that--But I ain't saying there's none better, and I +don't lay claim to being any wiser than--Anyway, it seems to me we ought +to----" + +"Just listen to this!" broke in Aunt Amanda. She had been studying the +map all this time, and she was holding it in her hands. She was much +excited. "I've just made out all this handwriting at the bottom of the +map, and I'll read it to you. Do you want to hear it?" Her voice shook +and her hands trembled. Everybody except the Churchwarden begged her to +go on. "Oh! do you think it could be true? If it only could! Oh, if it +_could_ only be true!" + +"Maybe if you'd read it, Aunt Amanda----" said Toby. + +"Yes, yes, I will," said she, all of a twitter. "I'll read it. Don't +hurry me. This is what it says. If it could only be true! 'Correction +Island: By dead Reckoning, latitude 12° 32' 14" N., longitude 61° 45' +13" W.,' whatever that means. But I'll read it to you just as it's +written. It's a queer kind of language--Anyway, this is what it says: + +"'Lately discovered by me, Reuben Higginson, Master Mariner, Brig Cotton +Mather: New Bedford. + +"'Notify Elizabeth Higginson, Spinster: or Else the acknowledged Elder +of the Society of Friends: New Bedford. + +"'Now off course in heavy gale on return Voyage to fetch my Sister +aforesaid to Correction Island with as Many others as are Minded to +come. + +"'Leaking badly below line: pumps Given over: Water mounting in hold: +decks Awash: Both masts gone By the board: whale-oil, no use: Down with +all hands in another Hour. + +"'This Map shall be cast Overboard in a stout Bottel as we go down, with +a Paper of directions how to Gain correction in the Island.'" + +"Where's the paper of directions?" said Toby. + +"It ain't here," said Aunt Amanda. "I suppose Captain Higginson lost it, +or else he didn't have time to put it in the bottle. Anyway, this is +what the writing on the map says: + +"'Let him that Finds the Bottel remember these Mariners: Also, let him +take heed to Search out the Island diligently. + +"'For this Island'--Listen to what it says now," said Aunt Amanda, +trembling with excitement. "Oh, do you suppose it could really be true? +And yet this Reuben Higginson was a good Quaker captain, I'm sure, and I +don't believe he would say what wasn't true, and especially when he was +on his way home to get his own sister----" + +"Why don't you read it, instead of talking about it?" said Toby. + +"I would, if you'd let me," said Aunt Amanda. "Here's what it says: + +"'For this Island is Refuge to such as be afflicted: And in this Island +shall be Corrected'--oh! listen to this! I wouldn't believe it from +anybody but Reuben Higginson--'shall be Corrected whatever Errors, +Disappointments, Miscarriages, Faylures, Preventions, and the like, this +mortal Life may have afflicted Any withal: Wherefore I have called it +Correction Island. + +"'There be Perils enough in coming at Compleat Correction: But let +Courage halt not By the way, so shall he Arrive presently. + +"'If any be Crooked'--this is the part! it's too wonderful! but Captain +Higginson wouldn't have said it, when he was so near going down with his +ship, and especially on his way home to get his own sister----" + +"Me dear lydy," said Mr. Punch, "_hif_ you would be so wery kind as +to----" + +"Yes, yes; give me time. I declare you make me so nervous--Now just +listen to this, every one of you, and don't speak: + +"'If any be Crooked, he shall there be made Straight.'" + +She paused, and looked hard at Toby. Mr. Punch started at the same time, +and he and Toby looked hard at each other. + +"'If any be Blind, he shall see: If any Dumb, he shall speak.'" + +At the word "dumb," Mr. Hanlon, whose elbow was resting on the table, +jumped so violently that he knocked the Album onto the floor. Aunt +Amanda nodded her head to him, and all the others stared at him. + +"'If any be Old, he shall be Young again: If any Fat, he shall be as +Lean as he will.'" + +At the word "fat", the Churchwarden gave a questioning grunt, and +settled down deeper in his chair. + +"'If any be Poor, whether in Purse or in Mind, he shall seek Alms no +longer.'" + +The Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, who had been resting his wooden leg +on the chair opposite, dropped it to the floor and sat up very straight. +Toby, who was standing beside him, clapped him heartily on the shoulder. + +"'If any be Mean, or Cunning, or Despiteful, he shall be given a new +heart.'" + +Aunt Amanda looked directly at the Sly Old Codger, who was sitting +smiling, with his tall silk hat on his knees; and everyone else in the +room, except Mr. Hanlon, looked very intently at him. He noticed it, and +glanced around inquiringly, smiling more benevolently than ever. + +"How beautiful that would be," he said. "How beautiful! If some of my +dear, dear friends could only have a new heart,--how beautiful!" + +"Don't interrupt," said Aunt Amanda. "Freddie, listen to this: + +"'If any be Little in stature, against his desire, he shall be Great.'" + +Freddie opened his eyes very wide. Would it be possible to be big at +once, without waiting all that long dreary time? How glorious that would +be! + +"But this," said Aunt Amanda, "this is the last and the best. I don't +know--whether I can--read it right--" her voice broke, and she blew her +nose and cleared her throat--"but I will try. Oh! do you suppose it +_could_ be true? Would a good Quaker captain, with a sister in New +Bedford, say it if it wasn't true? With the sea raging and both masts +gone, and the ship filling up with water, and----" + +"Aunt Amanda," said Toby, "if you don't read the rest of it this +minute----" + +"Ah, yes, Toby, I will," said Aunt Amanda. "It must be true, or a good +man like that wouldn't have said it. This is the last part, and the +best: + +"'If any be Prevented unjustly of Beauty or of Children or of Love or of +Other like desires, there shall be found for him of these a great Store: +So that there shall be an End of repining, and none in that Place shall +say, Thus and thus might I have been also, had I been but justly +entreated. + +"'And so I commit my Body to the sea, and my soul to----'" + +"Go on! go on!" cried the company--excepting, of course, Mr. Hanlon. + +Aunt Amanda blew her nose again, and laid down the map on the table. +"That's all," she said. "I suppose he didn't have time to finish it." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A MIXED COMPANY IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURE + + +After Aunt Amanda had stopped reading, it was a moment or two before +anyone spoke. "If all those things," said Mr. Toby thoughtfully, "could +be done in that Island, I'd be in favor of going there." + +There was a general murmur of assent, and Mr. Hanlon nodded his head. + +"Well," went on Mr. Toby, "we'd better make up our minds what we want to +do about it. The Churchwarden ain't had his say yet, what with all these +interruptions, and I move we give him a chance to have his say, right +now. Speak up, Warden; what do you think we ought to do?" + +"As I was saying," said the Churchwarden, looking around solemnly, +"while I don't hold to my own opinion if anybody else can think up +something better, still it seems to me--But maybe you'd ruther hear from +the others first." + +"No, no!" cried the whole company,--except Mr. Hanlon, who shook his +head vigorously. + +"Well, then, being as you've asked me so particular, and having thought +about it considerable,--as I was saying, it appears to me that the best +thing to do would be to--This is only the way it looks to me, you +understand, and I ain't speaking for nobody but myself, and I don't +pretend that my opinion is worth----" + +"By crackey!" cried Mr. Toby, very rudely. "Ain't you the most maddening +old feller that ever was in the world? Come on, now, tell us what to +do, and be quick about it!" + +"Call up the Able Seaman!" + +This was so unexpected that nobody spoke for a moment. + +"Hurrah!" cried Toby. "Now you've said it. We'll call up Mr. Lemuel +Mizzen--is that his name? That's the thing to do! Do you all agree to +that?" Everybody approved, and Mr. Toby turned to Freddie. "He's your +man, Freddie, and if you've done it once, I reckon it won't be any harm +for you to do it again. Wait a minute." And he ran into the shop, and +immediately returned with the Chinaman's head and a churchwarden pipe. + +"Now, then, Freddie," he said. "Will you do it again?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie. "I'd rather not." + +"You shouldn't make him do it," said Aunt Amanda. + +"Nonsense, Aunt Amanda!" cried Toby. "He's as bad now as he'll ever be, +and it ain't a-going to do him no harm. I'll fill the pipe." + +"Hit's quite a lark," said Mr. Punch, laughing heartily. "Fancy the +little beggar's smoking a pipe!" + +"My dear little friend," began the Sly Old Fox, beaming upon Freddie. +"You must always remember that your elders know best----" + +"Here, Freddie," said Mr. Toby, having filled the pipe, "sit down here." +And he pushed Freddie gently down upon his accustomed hassock at Aunt +Amanda's feet. + +Freddie shook his head, but Mr. Toby put the pipe into his mouth and lit +a match. All the others sat in silence, watching Freddie intently. + +"Now, then!" said Toby. "Pull away!" And he touched the lighted match to +the pipeful of black tobacco. + +Freddie gave a pull, and blew out a cloud of smoke. He did not choke +this time. He gave another pull, and blew out another cloud. The white +smoke lay above the heads of the company in a thick mass; it grew +thicker, so that he could not see through it; it began to move, as if in +a high wind. He drew on the pipe once more, and blew out another cloud +of smoke. He knew what was coming, and in fact the same thing happened +that had happened to him before. The white cloud churned about, with its +barber-poles and jets of fire, coming down closer and closer upon him, +and in a jiffy he was sitting in midair on his hassock, and then he felt +himself falling, falling; and as he struck the bottom with a jar, he +heard, very distinctly, a knock on the door; and he was sitting again on +his hassock at Aunt Amanda's feet in the quiet room, with no sign of a +cloud anywhere to be seen. + +"Come in!" he heard Mr. Toby cry. + +The door opened, and in walked Mr. Lemuel Mizzen, A.B., as cool as a +cucumber. + +He took off his flat blue cap with the black ribbon, and made a bow to +the company. + +"Piped me aft again, and good evening to you all!" said he, in his +hoarse voice. "Lemuel Mizzen, A.B.! That's me! What'll it be? All ready +for orders, skipper! It was just half past by the starboard watch, and +the skippers their apples were quietly peeling, when I locked up the +last of the lemons and Scotch, and lay on my bed looking up at the +ceiling, to snatch forty winks, as I foolishly reckoned; but just as I +thinks, 'Thirty-first, thirty-second,' there's a ring at the bell of the +big front-door, and the mates come and yell that I'm wanted ashore; so I +tucks in my cap the eight points of my nap, and just before stopping to +turn down the lights, I runs to the dresser and puts it to rights, and +then before giving a last look behind, I goes to the bed and takes off +the spread, and lays out to air the three sheets in the wind! And here I +be," concluded the Able Seaman, "all ready for orders." And he looked +very hard at Freddie. + +"Well!" said Aunt Amanda, gasping. "I never in my life heard such a----" + +"I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Mizzen," said Toby. "It's about +Correction Island, on the Spanish Main." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" said Mr. Mizzen. "Would you like to go there?" + +"Ah!" said everyone at once, except Mr. Hanlon, who nodded his head. + +"No trouble at all," said Mr. Mizzen. "Just step into The Sieve, and +we'll be off. A sweet little bark is The Sieve, provided there's plenty +of dippers; but we always go well provided. Is the whole party going?" + +"One moment, if you please," said the Sly Old Codger. "There is one +little point on which I--that is to say--Will there be any expense?" + +"Not a penny," said Mr. Mizzen. "Everything's found. Orders from the +skipper. What he says goes." + +"Ah!" said the Sly Old Fox. "The Spanish Main! With all the little +parrots and monkeys flitting about in the branches of the upas trees!--I +think I will join." + +"I reckon we're all going," said Mr. Toby. "Is everybody agreed? All +right. It's settled. And my vote is, to go right now, while we've got +hold of our Able Seaman here." + +"Shouldn't I tell mother first?" asked Freddie. + +"I'll write her a note in the morning," said Toby. "I'll fix it; you +leave it to me." + +"I suppose I really ought to finish this sewing," said Aunt Amanda. + +"No time," said Toby, who seemed to be managing everything. "Where's the +ship, Mr. Mizzen?" + +"Made fast to the wharf at the foot of this street," said Mr. Mizzen. + +"Then let's go," said Toby. + +He ran out of the room, and returned with his white derby hat on his +head, and his hand-painted necktie neatly in its place. He helped Aunt +Amanda to get up, and brought her her little black bonnet, which she put +on and tied under her chin, and her cashmere shawl, which she put around +her shoulders. + +"All right!" cried Toby. "We're off! Come along!" + +"We're off to the Spanish Main," said Mr. Mizzen, in his curious +sing-song, "to the wet Antipodee; but dry or wet we need not fret, for +we are bold as bold can be; and on the way at Botany Bay we'll probably +stay a week or two, to gather ferns as the Botanists do, and then we'll +stop at the door of Spain, to ask the way to the Spanish Main, and so +without any more delay, on the Spanish Main we'll all alight, where the +star-fish shines in the sea all night, and the dog-star barks in the sky +all day--Here, skipper, put this in your pocket, and hold fast to it." +He handed Freddie the map, and Freddie put it away safely in his pocket. + +"Have you got the Odour of Sanctity?" said Mr. Toby to the Churchwarden. + +"Right here," said the fat man, tapping his back pocket. + +"I'll carry the Chinaman's tobacco," said Toby. "We may need it." And he +tucked the Chinaman's head under his arm. + +In a few moments the whole party were standing on the pavement outside, +and Toby locked the shop-door behind them. They crossed the street, and +as they did so they heard a faint voice halloing from the top of the +church tower, and they could make out that it said, "Punch! Punch!" But +Mr. Punch only sniffed and shrugged his shoulders, and made no answer. + +It was very dark. The gas-lamps at the corners only made the darkness +gloomier. The only sound they heard, after Mr. Punch's father's voice +had died away behind them, was the stump-stump of the Old Codger's +wooden leg on the brick pavement. All the dwelling-houses were closed, +and as they came nearer to the wharves all the warehouses were dark and +awful. Not a soul was to be seen, except that once they saw the back of +a policeman as he disappeared around a dark corner in advance. At the +sight of this policeman's back, and in the shadow of a great gloomy +building alongside an alley, Freddie slipped his hand into the Able +Seaman's big paw. He wondered if he were doing quite right in leaving +home without saying a word to his mother, but Mr. Toby had promised to +do whatever was necessary, and anyway, he was going aboard a ship! If he +should stop to speak to his mother about going away on a voyage in a +ship, he felt somehow that he might never go. He could already smell the +delicious odour of tarred ropes. + +Their progress was very slow, on account of Aunt Amanda's lameness. +First came Mr. Mizzen, leading the way with Freddie by his side. Next +came Aunt Amanda, limping with her cane, and supported on one side by +Mr. Toby and on the other by Mr. Punch. Behind them walked the +Churchwarden and the Sly Old Fox, and last of all Mr. Hanlon and the Old +Codger with the Wooden Leg. + +They could see not far before them the ghost-like masts and shrouds of +ships, looking as if they were growing up from the street among the +buildings; and in another moment they found themselves standing in a +group on a wide wharf, piled up with bales and boxes, and before them, +against the edge of the wharf, where the black water was lapping the +piles, stood a tall ship with most of her sails set. Freddie thrilled in +every vein of his body. At that moment he did not think of his father or +mother; he thought of nothing but the smell of brackish water and tarred +ropes, and the deck of a ship on the open sea under a cloud of canvas, +and the far-away Spanish Main. + +The Able Seaman led the company of adventurers forward between the bales +and boxes, until they stood beside the dark hull of the ship. He turned +round and faced them and touched his cap respectfully. + +"Come aboard," said he. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE VOYAGE OF THE SIEVE + + +When Freddie awoke the next morning, he leaned up on his elbow, rubbing +his eyes, and was surprised to see the floor of the little room in which +he found himself settling slowly down at one side. In a moment the floor +rose again on that side, and the other side settled down. Then the whole +room tilted sideways and back again. It made him dizzy, and he closed +his eyes, wondering what kind of a house he had gotten into. He decided +he would get up and find out about it. + +He carefully rose, and tried to walk across the floor to the window. As +he stepped out, the floor seemed to go down under him, and he quickly +grasped the bed; he put out his foot again, and the floor rose up; he +was dizzier than before, and he had a queer sinking feeling in his +stomach. As the floor tilted down sideways again, he made a dash to the +opposite wall, and held on there by the window; but the floor sank +again, and he made another dash, back to bed. He was cold and hot, and +his head ached, and there was a feeling in his stomach as if--oh dear! +He decided he would lie in bed for a few moments until he felt better. + +He remained there for two days. + +What occurred during those two days he could not remember very well +afterwards. He slept a great deal, and it seemed that some one with a +green patch over his eye came in now and then; but he paid very little +attention. All he wanted was to go to sleep and stay asleep. + +On the morning after his third night he sat up wide awake. He was +hungry. He jumped up and dressed in a hurry. As the floor tilted and +sank and rose with him he thought he had never felt so delicious a +sensation. He wondered if there would be bacon and eggs for breakfast. + +In a moment he had thrown open the door and he was running up a short +flight of steps. He was weak and tottery, but he paid no attention to +that. He was at the top of the steps, and he drew in a deep breath of +the cool morning air. + +He was standing on the deck of a great ship. Over his head clouds and +clouds of beautiful white canvas swelled out to the breeze. The sun was +sparkling merrily on the water, and there was no land to be seen +anywhere. Up forward, the bow of the ship was dipping and rising +regularly. There were three tall masts, and on the first two the sails +were set square to the masts, and on the third lengthwise; every sail +seemed to be up. It was glorious. + +He walked forward up the deck. Here and there were men in blue overalls, +cleaning the deck, coiling ropes, and polishing metal; and in a little +house with windows a man was standing beside an upright wheel. Near the +first mast, in a group, were Aunt Amanda, Mr. Toby, the Churchwarden, +and the two old Codgers. Freddie hailed them with a shout. + +"All right, young feller," cried Mr. Toby, as Freddie came up, "here we +are! How is this for a corking spree? Beats all the Tolchester +excursions you ever see, that's what I say! Blamed if it don't. I ain't +been out of bed for two days." + +"No more has any of us," said Aunt Amanda. "Do you feel well, Freddie? +I declare I'm quite excited. Isn't the air invigorating?" + +"Yes'm," said Freddie. "What did you say in your note, Mr. Toby?" + +"What note?" said Toby. + +"Why, your note to my mother, explaining about me and----" + +"By crackey!" cried Toby. "Blamed if I didn't clean forget all about it! +Now ain't that too bad! What on earth are we going to do about it?" + +"Well!" said Aunt Amanda. "Now ain't that just like you, Toby +Littleback? I declare if your head wasn't fastened on you'd----" + +"Wery reprehensible," said Mr. Punch. "Wery." + +"My dear friends," said the Sly Old Codger, "let us not be disquieted on +such a morning as this. Everything is so beautiful. _So_ beautiful! And +without any expense whatever. It is a precious thought. How pleasant it +is to hear the breeze blowing so gently among all the little capstans up +there!" + +He took off his high silk hat and looked up among the sails with a rapt +expression on his face, and all the others looked up too, trying to see +the capstans fluttering in the breeze. + +"Look!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Why, there's Mr. Hanlon!" + +Far, far up, near the top of the second mast, was a white figure, +standing on a rope under the topmost sail, and holding on with one hand +and waving the other down at the passengers. Mr. Toby waved his white +derby, and Mr. Hanlon began to come down. Freddie trembled with alarm, +but Mr. Hanlon was obviously having the time of his life. He skipped +swiftly along his dangerous perch, and sliding down and along the spars +of wood that held the sails, and actually leaping from one to another, +and tripping lightly down ladders of rope, while the whole top swayed +dizzily from side to side, he at length came down on the deck with a +bounce, and bowing to everybody shook Freddie by the hand. + +"Here comes the Able Seaman!" cried Toby. "And see what he's got on his +wrist!" + +Mr. Lemuel Mizzen came rolling down the deck, and as he approached he +took off his cap with his left hand and made a bow. On his right wrist +was a blue and red parrot, who cocked his head sideways at the +strangers, and then looked up inquiringly at the Able Seaman. + +"Good morning, all!" said Mr. Mizzen. "Glad to see the passengers come +to life again! Nothing like the open sea, lady and gentlemen!" + +"Are you sure it's perfectly safe?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"Perfectly safe, ma'am. A tight little bark is The Sieve, provided the +dippers hold out. Most of the men is below now, baling out the water +with their dippers, and the ship ain't leaking more than ordinary--yet. +Of course you never can tell what may happen, but there's plenty of +dippers, unless we should founder in a storm, or split up on the rocks, +or----" + +"Mercy on us!" cried Aunt Amanda. "I wish we hadn't come. If I only had +some sewing with me." + +"Would you mend socks, ma'am?" + +"Oh, that would be lovely! And I could look after the men's shirts, too, +and count the laundry when it comes home, and--I'm sure we are going to +have a delightful voyage! I feel better already. I don't believe there's +any danger after all. It's all nonsense about the ship's leaking." + +"Who's your f-f-f-friends, L-l-lem?" shrieked a voice from Mr. Mizzen's +wrist. + +Everyone started, and looked in amazement at the parrot, whose head was +perked sideways up at Mr. Mizzen's face. + +"L-l-lem!" shrieked the parrot, stuttering terribly. "Who's your +f-f-f-friends?" + +"Never you mind," said Lemuel, "you'll find out soon enough. Breakfast's +ready. Anybody want breakfast?" + +Before anyone had a chance to reply, the parrot opened his mouth wide +and gave a loud laugh, and cried out: + +"Th-th-three ch-cheers! Th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-steak, b-b-bacon +and eggs! I'll have l-l-l-liver and onions! Ha! ha! ha! Th-th-three +ch-cheers for l-l-l-liver and onions!" + +"Be quiet, Marmaduke," said the Able Seaman. "I'll lock you up again, if +you ain't careful." + +"K-k-k-ker-_choo_!" said Marmaduke, giving a loud sneeze; and rubbed his +beak with his foot and fluttered his feathers. "L-l-l-lock me up in the +a-a-after hold, till I g-g-g-get all over this d-d-d-dreadful cold! +Th-th-three ch-cheers for hay f-f-f-fever! K-k-k-ker-_choo_!" + +"I'll lock you up in the after hold, if you don't quit being so fresh +and bold; I'll learn you manners before I'm through, and if ever I hear +one little--" + +"Ker-_choo_!" said Marmaduke, finishing Mr. Mizzen's sentence for him +very neatly. + +Everyone laughed, except the Able Seaman. + +"All right," said he, "just wait till I've had my chow, I'll attend to +you proper; now off with you--now!" And he tossed Master Marmaduke off +his wrist up into the air. The parrot lit on a spar overhead, just under +a sail, and peered down at the company without the least appearance of +embarrassment. + +"If there's b-b-b-bacon and eggs," he cried, "I'll take l-l-l-liver! +Th-th-three ch-ch-cheers for l-l-l-liver!" + +[Illustration: "L-l-lem!" shrieked the parrot. "Who's your +f-f-f-friends?"] + +Freddie burst into a merry laugh, and all his friends joined; all except +Mr. Punch, who looked puzzled. + +"'Ow could 'e 'ave liver," said he, "hif there was only bycon an' +heggs?" + +At this everyone laughed louder than before, and Mr. Punch was +completely perplexed. + +"I'll explain that to you some day," said Toby. "Didn't you never hear a +joke?" + +"Ho, yes," said Mr. Punch. "Hi 'eard a wery good joke once; a wery good +one indeed. Hi'll relate it to you. When I was a lad--" + +"There's the breakfast bell," said Mr. Mizzen. "Sorry to interrupt, but +we mustn't let it get cold. We'll hold the election afterwards." + +No one waited to hear Mr. Punch's joke. The Able Seaman led the way, and +all the others followed him down the deck, towards a kind of three-sided +box which opened on a stairway below. + +In a moment or two they found themselves in the dining-saloon, and in +another moment they were seated about a round table, set for breakfast. +The passengers insisted on the Able Seaman's sitting down with them, and +he consented to do so. + +A lad of about eighteen entered, to wait on the table. He had a shock of +bright red hair, and a kind of frightened look in his eyes, as if he +were afraid he would do everything wrong, and would always be in hot +water about it. He stood behind the Able Seaman's chair, and began to +make a queer contortion of the face, in an effort to speak. + +"Th-th-th-there's--" he began. + +"Skipper first," interrupted Mr. Mizzen, nodding towards Freddie. + +The Cabin-boy (for that was what he was) went to Freddie's chair, and +began to speak again, with the same contortion of the face. + +"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, b-b-b-bacon and eggs," he +said. + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. + +The Cabin-boy stared in bewilderment, and began again. + +"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, b-b-b-bacon and eggs," said +he. + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, much embarrassed. + +"I don't blame you, skipper," said the Able Seaman. "I would too, if I +hadn't eaten for two days. Next!" + +The Cabin-boy stood behind Aunt Amanda's chair, and began: + +"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, b-b-b-bacon +and--Ker-_choo_!" He gave a hearty sneeze, and pulled out his +pocket-handkerchief; so he had to begin all over again: + +"Th-th-th-there's ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-s-s--" + +"Chops, thank you," said Aunt Amanda. + +The Cabin-boy took his stand behind Toby's chair, and began: + +"There's--there's--th-th-th-th--Ker-_choo_! Th-th-there's +ch-ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-s-s--" + +"Chops and steak," said Toby. + +The Cabin-boy stood behind each of the other chairs in turn, and +repeated each time his entire list. Everybody gave a different order, +and the boy became so bewildered at last that he wiped his forehead with +his pocket-handkerchief, brushed a tear from his eye, and when he had +taken the last order dashed out of the door with a kind of sob. + +As soon as he was gone, sounds came through the door by which he had +left, as if a dreadful row was going on in the next room. + +"Frightful temper, that cook," said the Able Seaman, "but the boy +certainly does get on his nerves." + +In a short time the Cabin-boy came in with four plates at once, and as +he reached Freddie's chair the ship gave a deep lurch downward, and the +four plates shot out of his arms across the room, showering the floor +with chops, steak, bacon and eggs. + +The boy gave a wild cry and burst into tears, and fled through the door. +From the next room came the sound of a row more violent than before. + +"Never mind," said Mr. Mizzen, "he'll be back." + +He came back presently, his eyes very red, and stumbling in and out +managed to put down before each one a plate. Every plate contained +chops, steak, bacon and eggs. + +"Now," said Mr. Mizzen, when the breakfast was over, "we'll go up and +hold the election." + +When they came on deck, they were astonished to see a considerable +number of men in blue overalls, who were sitting on the deck in a group. +As the passengers approached, they stood up respectfully, and one of +them said something privately to Mr. Mizzen. + +"They've held the election already," said the Able Seaman, turning to +the passengers. "There's three dozen of 'em, and they've elected the +captains and mates for the voyage; thirteen captains and twenty-three +mates. They went right ahead without waiting for me, so I'm the only +Able Seaman left on the ship." + +"What!" said Aunt Amanda. "Do you mean to tell me--?" + +"It's all right, madam," said Mr. Mizzen in an undertone. "You see, +they're all free and equal, and everything goes by voting. They won't +have it any other way. It's lucky they didn't all want to be captains. +It's all right, anyway, because there's none of 'em knows anything about +navigation, and I'm the only one on board that _does_ know; so it comes +to the same thing as if they had elected _me_ captain. But of course +_they_ don't think of that. Not a word. I'll send 'em about their +business now, as soon as they've put on their uniforms." + +"Well!" said Aunt Amanda, gasping. "I never in my life--!" + +The thirteen captains and the twenty-three mates disappeared from the +deck in a hurry, and in a very few minutes reappeared. Each one of them +wore, in place of his blue overalls, a smart blue suit with brass +buttons and gold braid, and a jaunty blue cap with gold braid around it; +the mates having only nine instead of ten rows of braid around their +sleeves. + +The Able Seaman led them aside, and after a few words with them returned +to his passengers. + +"Everything's settled," said he. "Some of them are going below with +their dippers, and the rest of them are to look after handling the ship. +The navigation is left to me. We'll get along fine now, provided the +leaks don't get any worse." + +Freddie wandered off by himself, to inspect the ship. He could walk very +well now, in spite of the roll of the ship, and he went everywhere. He +found himself finally on the after deck, leaning over the rail and +watching the wake of the ship boiling away so white and beautiful +behind. He was more and more delighted with this strange adventure. It +was too bad that Mr. Toby had forgotten to write the note to his mother, +but it couldn't be helped now, and they would sometime find a place +somewhere or other where they could post a letter. It was so entrancing +to be actually at sea on a ship, with the deck rising and falling, and +the wake boiling away behind, and land nowhere in sight, that it would +seem a pity ever to arrive at the Spanish Main; but the thought of +adventures there--! However, he was in no hurry to have the voyage over. + +Aunt Amanda was sitting somewhere with a pile of sailors' socks in her +lap, perfectly contented. Mr. Hanlon was swinging his feet away up +yonder from the topmost yard of the second mast. The Churchwarden, Mr. +Punch, Toby, and the Sly Old Fox were engaged in an earnest discussion +in chairs beside the deck-house. The Old Codger with the Wooden Leg was +speaking confidentially in the ear of the twenty-first mate, in an +effort to borrow a pipeful of tobacco. + +Suddenly Freddie heard behind him the loud harsh laughter of Marmaduke +the parrot. Turning round, he saw the parrot perched on the ship's rail, +and before him was the Cabin-boy, shaking his finger in the parrot's +face, and storming away at him angrily. Freddie immediately went over to +them. + +"I w-w-w-won't s-s-s-s-stand it no l-l-l-l-longer!" the Cabin-boy was +bawling, his face nearly as red as his hair. "I w-w-w-won't! W-w-w-what +do you m-m-m-mean by m-m-m-mocking me all the t-t-t-ime?" + +"Who? M-m-m-m-m-me?" said the parrot. + +"Y-y-y-yaas, y-y-y-you!" cried the Cabin-boy. "Just because I +s-s-s-s-s-stutter, do you--do you--do you have to--have +to--s-s-s-s-stut-stutter too?" + +"M-m-m-m-me? You're entirely m-m-m-m-mistaken. You're the one that +s-s-s-stut-s-s-s-stutters." + +"Ain't you always s-s-saying--saying--ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, +b-b-b-b-bacon and eggs? Ain't you? You've got to k-k-k-k-quit--r-r-right +_now_, d'you _hear_? I w-w-w-won't s-s-s-stand it no l-l-l-l-longer, and +you b-b-b-better b-b-b-believe it!" + +"Highty-tighty! Sixty, ninety! Uncle Sam! Pop pop! Th-th-there's +ch-ch-chops, s-s-s-steak, b-b-b-bacon and eggs! Th-th-three ch-ch-cheers +for l-l-l-liver and onions!" + +The poor Cabin-boy burst out crying. + +"All ri-i-i-ight," he sobbed, stamping his foot. "All ri-i-i-ight. I +c-c-can't help it--if--I do s-s-stutter. But there ain't no +p-p-p-p-parrot going to m-m-m-m-mock me, M-m-m-m-mizzen nor no +M-m-m-m-mizzen. I'll wring--your--bla-a-a-asted--neck first, you +ornery--l-l-l-little--varmint, you s-s-s-see if I--see if +I--d-d-d-don't!" + +"Marmaduke's my name!" shrieked the parrot. "Please to note the same! +Pop, pop, pop! I'll have l-l-l-liver and onions, l-l-l-l-liver and +onions, l-l-l-l-liver and onions, pop, pop, pop!" + +The Cabin-boy, shaking with sobs, raised his hand threateningly. + +"D-d-d-d-don't you d-d-d-dare t-t-t-to--Ker-_choo_!" He sneezed, and out +came his handkerchief. + +"Ker-_choo_!" sneezed the parrot, and rubbed his beak with his foot. + +This was the last straw. The Cabin-boy reached for Marmaduke's neck, and +would surely have choked him then and there, if Freddie had not caught +his arm and pulled him away. + +The Cabin-boy allowed himself to be led off, and Freddie drew him along +towards the companion-way. + +"Come along down to my room," said Freddie. + +"All r-r-right," said the Cabin-boy, wiping his eyes and sniffling. +"I'll c-c-c-come, b-b-b-but there's going to be trouble--trouble--on +this sh-sh-sh-ship along o' that p-p-p-parrot before this--before this +v-v-v-voyage--is over, you m-m-m-mark m-m-m-m-my w-w-w-w-words!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE CABIN-BOY'S REVENGE + + +It was a soft moonlight night in southern seas. Our party of +adventurers, with Mr. Mizzen in their midst, were sitting quietly on the +after part of the deck, enjoying the balmy air and watching the bright +track which the full moon made on the water. The sea was very calm. +There was only a light breeze, and The Sieve was hardly moving. + +Mr. Mizzen was scratching the head of Marmaduke the parrot, who was +perched on the Able Seaman's wrist. From the forward part of the deck, +where the skippers and mates were sitting in a party of their own, could +be heard the tinkle of a guitar and the sound of a voice singing. + +"One always enjoys," said Mr. Punch, "a bit of singing by moonlight on +the water. Hi remember when I was a lad--" + +"Why don't you sing for us yourself?" said Toby. + +"Oh, do!" cried several of the others. + +Mr. Punch looked down at the deck bashfully. "Hi should be wery glad to +oblige," said he, "but I 'ave a slight cold, and besides, Hi only know +one song." + +"What is the name of it?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"Kathleen Mavourneen," said Mr. Punch. + +"That's a very good song," said Aunt Amanda. "Sing it." + +"Wait a minute," said Mr. Mizzen, "and I'll get the guitar. I can play +it." + +While he was gone, and while the others were talking, Freddie felt a +hand on his arm, and looking down saw the Cabin-boy sitting on the deck +beside his chair, and winking up at him with a strange excited look on +his face. The Cabin-boy pulled Freddie's head down, and whispered in his +ear. + +"S-s-s-sh! K-k-keep your eyes o-o-ope-open! Something's going to happen +to-to-tonight! You'll see! Down with M-m-mizzen and M-m-marmaduke!" + +Freddie gazed at the Cabin-boy in some alarm, and was about to ask a +question, when Mr. Mizzen returned with the guitar. + +"Now we're ready," said he, taking his seat and putting Marmaduke on the +rail of the ship. "Here's the chord. All right, Mr. Punch." + +"Hi really 'ave such a cold--" said Mr. Punch. + +"That's understood," said Toby. "Now then, strike up." + +Mr. Punch cleared his throat very loud, and coughed once or twice, and +began to sing: + + "Kathleen Mavourneen, the gr'y dorn is bryking, + The 'orn of the 'unter is 'eard on the 'ill." + +"Ha! ha! ha! ha!" roared Toby. "The 'orn of the 'unter! Blamed if I ever +hear the like of that before! My stars! What's the matter, Mr. Punch, +can't you put in a little 'h' now and then? The 'orn of the 'unter! Oh +my stars! Ha! ha! ha! ha!" + +Mr. Punch was deeply offended. "Hit is quite sufficient," said he. "Hi +shall sing no more." And nothing that anybody could say could induce him +to go on. + +"Toby Littleback," said Aunt Amanda, "it's just like you, all over. Now +you ask Mr. Punch's pardon, right this minute." + +Toby apologized, and Mr. Punch said that it was of no consequence +whatever; but he would not sing. + +"Then I guess you'll have to sing for us yourself, Mizzen," said Toby. + +"Right-o," said Mr. Mizzen, thrumming on his guitar. "What'll it be?" + +The Cabin-boy sniffed and spoke in an undertone close to Freddie's ear. + +"He'll be s-s-singing on the other s-s-side of his f-f-face before this +night's o-o-over, you mark m-m-m-my wo-wo-words!" + +"Lady and gentlemen"--began Mr. Mizzen. + +"Ker-choo!" sneezed the parrot. "A wet sh-sh-sheet and a f-f-flowing +s-s-s-sea! Three cheers f-f-for the--Ker-choo! Three cheers f-f-for hay +f-f-fe-fever!" + +"Down with b-b-b-both of 'em!" whispered the Cabin-boy fiercely in +Freddie's ear. + +"Suppose you sing us something about yourself," said Aunt Amanda. + +"Ay, ay, ma'am," said Mr. Mizzen; and after playing a few chords and +quivers on the guitar, he began to sing, in a voice like a fog-horn +muffled by a heavy fog, the following song concerning the + +LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF L. MIZZEN + + "When I was a lad I was bad as I could be, + Wouldn't say 'Thank you' nor 'Please,' not me, + And at church I wouldn't kneel but only on one knee, + And at school I wouldn't study my A B C, + And I couldn't conscientious with the Golden Rule agree, + Nor understand the secret of its popularitee, + Nor get a ounce of pleasure from the Rule of Three,-- + I was bad right through; sweared 'hully gee,' + And worse sometimes, like 'jiminee;' + Scrawled with a pencil on my jographee, + Stole birds' eggs in the huckleberry tree,-- + Oh, I was bad; tried to learn a flea + How to keep his balance on a rolling pea,-- + Oh, regular bad; and my ma, said she, + 'If you don't be better than what you be, + I'll put you in the cupboard and turn the key.' + But I wouldn't and I wouldn't, no sirree, + + So I ran away to sea; + Yes, I ran away to sea; + + With a little gingham, bottle of cambric tea, + And a penny wrapped up in my hankerchee, + + For I wanted to be free, + So I ran away to sea." + +Mr. Mizzen stopped, and looked towards the stern of the ship. "I +thought," said he, "I kind of noticed something queer about the stern +rail; looked as if it was lower. But I guess I'm mistaken." + +Everyone looked, but saw nothing amiss. The Cabin-boy tittered into +Freddie's ear. + +"Would you like to hear the second verse?" said the Able Seaman. + +"Yes, yes! Go on!" said several voices at once. + +"Here goes, then," said Mr. Mizzen, thrumming on the guitar. "After I +ran away to sea, I had a good many adventures, and some of 'em--anyway-- + + "When I was young I followed the Equator + From Pole to Pole in the ship Perambulator, + A four-wheeled schooner, a smoky old freighter, + Loaded with sulphur for an old dead crater + In the Andes Mountains, and a night or two later + With a three-knot gale blowing loud and rude + As the dark grows darker and the gale increases + Of a sudden we strike and we goes all to pieces + On the forty-seventh parallel of latitude. + And then and there we formed a committee + And went in a body up to London City + And walked up the steps and pulled the little bell, + And spoke out bold to the Lords of Creation + Where they sat in their wigs making rules of navigation, + And explained to 'em the dangers of the Deadly Parallel. + 'Take 'em down and pull 'em in,' + That's the way we did begin: + ''Tisn't leaks nor 'tisn't whiskey + Makes the sailor's life so risky, + It's the parallel as lies acrost our track. + It's the Deadly Parallel, lying there so long and black, + Is the subject of our moderate petition; + 'Tisn't much that we are wishin', + But we humbly beg permission + To implore,-- + Coil 'em up, we implore, where they won't be in the way, + Out of sight, safe ashore, we humbly pray; + For there's many a tidy bark + Strikes against 'em in the dark + And is never never heard of any more. + So we'll thank you heartilee + If so very kind you'll be + And remove this awful danger from the sea.' + But we couldn't make 'em do it; + No, they simply wouldn't do it; + And the bailiff shoved us gently from the door. + And we wept uncommon salty, + For their reason did seem faulty, + Any way that we could view it: + And the reason which they gave us + Why they really couldn't save us + Was because the thing had ne'er been done before; + No, such a thing had ne'er been done before." + +Mr. Mizzen stopped again, and looked along the deck and up at the masts, +and said, "I can't get it out of my head that the deck is slanting a +little more than usual; the ship doesn't seem to come up well at the +stern. However,--would you like to hear any more of this song?" + +Everybody begged him to go on. + +The Cabin-boy plucked Freddie's sleeve. "I've done it. You'll s-s-s-see! +Won't that M-m-marmaduke and that M-m-m-mizzen sing another tune when +they f-f-f-find out?" Freddie looked at him in amazement; but the Able +Seaman was commencing the third verse of his song: + + "When I was older, and bold as you please, + I shipped on the good ship Firkin of Cheese, + For a v'yage of discovery in the far South Seas, + To gather up a cargo of ambergris + That grows in a cave on the amber trees + Where the medicine men, all fine M.D.'s, + For the sake of the usual medical fees, + Crawl in by night on their hands and knees + In a strictly ethical manner to seize + The amber fruit that is used to grease + The itching palm in Shekel's Disease,-- + On a long long v'yage, as busy as bees, + Never stopping for a moment to take our ease, + Never changing our course, except when the breeze + Took to blowing to windward,--we had slipped by degrees + Down the oozy slopes of the Hebrides, + And passed through the locks of the Florida Keys, + Which in getting through was a rather tight squeeze, + But danger is nothing to men like these, + When suddenly the lookout, a Portuguese + Who had better been below a-shelling peas, + Shrieked out, 'They are coming! By twos and threes! + On the starboard bow! We are lost!--" + +"We're lost! we're lost! we're lost!" came a terrible cry from the +forward part of the ship, as if in echo of Mr. Mizzen's song. "We're +lost! The dippers! The dippers!" + +Everyone jumped up, even Aunt Amanda. The Cabin-boy whispered in +Freddie's ear, in great excitement, "N-n-n-now you'll s-see!" + +A man came running down the deck, followed by all the skippers and +mates. As he halted before Mr. Mizzen, he was evidently the Cook, by the +white cook's cap he wore on his head. He took off his cap and wiped his +forehead with his hand. He was in a state of mixed alarm and anger. + +"We're lost!" he cried, and actually tore his hair with his hands. "It's +that rascally Cabin-boy! The dippers is gone! Every last one of them! +And the ship leakin' by the barrelful! Let me get at that boy once, and +I'll learn him! Fryin' on a slow fire would be too good for him! Swore +he'd get even, he did, and now he's gone and done it! Stole all the +dippers--he's the one that done it, you can bet your last biscuit! There +ain't a dipper left in the ship, and the water pourin' in by the +barrelful! I just found it out, while them lazy skippers and mates was +lying around doing nothing! Gimme one sea-cook for all the skippers on +the ocean, that's what I say! Every last dipper gone! gone! We're lost!" + +Everyone looked around for the Cabin-boy. He was nowhere to be seen, but +his laugh was heard overhead, and his face was then seen looking down +from the rigging just above. + +"I've d-d-d-done it," he cried, shrieking with laughter. "I'm even with +you n-n-n-n-now! M-m-m-m-mizzen he l-l-l-learned the parrot to +m-m-m-mock me, he did, and Cook he b-b-b-basted me in the g-g-g-galley +all the t-t-t-t-time, and now I'm e-e-e-even with all of 'em. They ain't +g-g-g-going to t-t-t-torment me no m-m-m-m-more! I stole the dippers and +th-th-th-threw 'em overboard, every last one of 'em, and n-n-n-now +you're g-g-g-going to s-s-sink, sink, si-i-_ink_, d-d-d-down, down, +d-d-d-_down_, to the bottom of the--bottom of the s-s-s-_sea_!" + +He laughed louder than before, and the angry Cook sprang forward to +climb up after him, but just then the ship gave a violent lurch +backwards, nearly upsetting everyone, and settled down by the stern, so +that that end of the boat was completely under water. + +Aunt Amanda screamed. Toby and Mr. Punch came to her at once and +supported her on each side. There was a great hubbub. Everyone tried to +speak at once. Freddie felt his hand grasped in the strong hand of Mr. +Toby, and he began to feel somewhat less afraid. Over the hubbub could +be heard the Cabin-boy's wild laugh. + +"Everybody quiet!" shouted Mr. Mizzen. "We must think what we had better +do." + +"Yes, yes," cried a number of voices. "What are we going to do?" + +"I wish," said Mr. Mizzen, thoughtfully, "I wish we had thought to bring +a rowboat with us." + +"What!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Do you mean to tell me that you came away +on this long journey without an extra boat?" + +"We didn't think of it," said Mr. Mizzen. "We had plenty of dippers, and +we never thought of anybody's throwing them overboard." + +"No! no!" cried all the skippers and mates together. "We never thought +of that!" + +"Then bring out the life-preservers at once!" said Aunt Amanda. "And be +quick about it!" + +"We haven't any," said Mr. Mizzen. "What would have been the use of +life-preservers if the dippers were all on board? We never thought we +would need them." + +"No! no!" cried all the skippers and mates together. "We never thought +of that!" + +"Then think of something now," said Aunt Amanda. "Don't you see the +ship's settling deeper in the water?" + +The ship was in fact deeper in the water. It was sinking rapidly. The +deck began to list so much towards the stern that it was difficult to +stand on it. The ship was making no headway whatever. The breeze was +even lighter than before, and the sails were hanging limp. It would have +taken a stiff wind indeed to have moved that water-logged boat; and it +lay as if moored to a float, going up and down heavily in the long +swell. + +"Do you--er--think," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, "that we +are in--er--danger?" + +"Danger!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Something must be done! Are you going to +let us drown without turning a hand?" + +"There's only one thing to do," said Mr. Mizzen, "and I don't know +whether it will work or not; but we can try it. Boys, bring up all the +mattresses from the cabins, and a coil of rope! Look alive, now!" + +The skippers and mates ran off in great haste and disappeared down the +hatchways. In a few minutes they had laid on the deck a great pile of +mattresses. While this was being done, Aunt Amanda, whose bonnet and +shawl had been brought to her by one of the men, tied her bonnet-strings +under her chin and put her shawl about her shoulders, in readiness for +departure. + +"Now then," said Mr. Mizzen, "lash the mattresses together." + +The men proved themselves very handy with ropes. With Mr. Mizzen's help, +they lashed together securely a good number of the mattresses, and the +first result of their work was a mattress raft some fifteen feet square, +and some four or five feet thick. A supply of oil-cloth was found in the +store-room, and this was bound by ropes all over and under and around +the raft. + +"I don't know whether it will do," said Mr. Mizzen, "but anyway there's +nothing else that _will_ do. Now, lads, over the side with her!" + +All the men lent a hand, and the mattress raft was hoisted over the side +and on to the water. To the satisfaction of everyone, it floated there +quietly and easily, with its top well above the surface of the sea. + +"Lucky it's a smooth sea," said Mr. Mizzen. "We ought to be pleased with +the state of the weather; couldn't be better; I feel quite joyful about +it." + +"Oh, you do," said Aunt Amanda. "Well, I don't feel joyful about it. +What next?" + +"Put the provisions aboard," said the Able Seaman; whereupon some of the +men placed on the raft a small barrel of water and some tins of meat, +soup, biscuit, and other things. + +"If you please," said Mr. Mizzen, when this had been done, "I think the +passengers had better get aboard. When you're aboard, we'll make another +raft for ourselves. Are you ready?" + +The passengers were helped aboard the raft, one after another. Although +the raft bobbed up and down on the swell, it was not a difficult matter +for the men and the boy to get on, for it was held fast against the side +of the ship at a point where it was about even with the deck-rail. +Freddie gave a good spring, and was on in no time; Mr. Hanlon, who did +not seem in the least uneasy, got aboard with the agility of a cat; +there was no trouble with anyone except Aunt Amanda, whose lameness +impeded her movements a good deal. + +As the Sly Old Fox, with his high silk hat on his head, was about to +step over the side, he turned and said: + +"I feel it my duty, Mr. Mizzen, to register a complaint against the +outrageous treatment to which we are being subjected. I submit under +protest, sir; under protest. If I had for one moment imagined--" + +"Oh bosh," said Toby. "Push him over, Mizzen." And the Sly Old Fox was +in fact somewhat rudely pushed over on to the raft. + +None of the others made any objection. Mr. Punch, who usually talked a +good deal, was noticeably silent; and when Toby offered him a hand to +help him over, he said stiffly: + +"Hi thank you sir, but I do not require any hassistance." + +When the Churchwarden took his seat in the middle of the raft, it went +down alarmingly; but nothing happened, and when the Old Codger with the +Wooden Leg was aboard, the party was complete. All the others sat around +the Churchwarden, as close as they could huddle. It was evident that the +raft would float them, at least until it should become water-logged, or +a gale of wind should blow. The men on the ship now let go of the raft, +and proceeded to lash together the remaining mattresses for themselves. +The raft floated quietly away from the ship. + +Aunt Amanda's arm was about Freddie. He did not feel, however, that he +needed her protection. He had already forgotten his first alarm, and he +was feeling most of all what an extraordinary adventure it was that had +befallen him; the men from the ship would be nearby on the other rafts, +the sea was calm, the air was warm, and they would probably be picked up +by some vessel before the food gave out. He supposed there were very few +boys who had ever sailed the open sea on a mattress. + +"Well, Freddie," said Mr. Toby, as the raft continued to float slowly +away from the ship, "what do you think of this, eh? Have you got the map +of Correction Island with you?" + +"Yes, sir, I have. It's in my pocket." + +"Good! Don't lose it. We may get to the Island after all, some day; you +never can tell. By the way, Warden, have you got your Odour of +Sanctity?" + +"Safe in my pocket," said the Churchwarden. "What about you? Have you +got the Chinaman's head?" + +"What? Me? The Chinaman's head? Oh merciful fathers! I clean forgot it!" +cried Toby. "Blamed if I didn't leave it in my room on the ship! Never +thought about it once! If that don't beat all! What'll we do? We can't +get back! We're floating away! Great jumping Joan! What'll we do?" + +"Well!" gasped Aunt Amanda. "Won't you never get a head on your +shoulders, you Toby Littleback? Can't you never remember anything? I +declare, Toby Littleback, you are the most addlepated, exasperating,--Oh +dear, we'd better hail the ship, quick!" + +The party on the raft set up a loud cry, which was answered from the +ship. + +"The Chinaman's head!" shouted Toby. "On the dresser in my cabin! I +forgot it! Run and get it! Quick! We're floating away!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came a voice from the ship. + +The company on the raft waited anxiously. In a very few moments, which +seemed like a great many, a hail came from the side of the ship, and +they could see the Cabin-boy standing at a point of the deck where it +was now sloped high out of the water, and he was holding the Chinaman's +head aloft in both hands, as if about to throw it towards the raft. + +"Don't throw it!" shouted Toby. "Tie a rope to it first!" + +But he was too late. The Cabin-boy raised the Chinaman's head higher, +swinging his body sideways, and as a dark figure came up behind him and +tried to seize his arm, he gave a mighty heave and toss, and sent the +Chinaman's head flying through the air in the direction of the raft. + +For a second it glistened in the moonlight. In another second it +descended towards the raft, and almost reached it; but not quite; it +came down within five feet of it, and fell like a shot plump into the +ocean. It splashed, and that was all. The Chinaman's head was gone. + +A wail went up from the company on the raft at this terrible disaster. +How terrible it really was they did not even yet understand, but they +were soon to learn. Freddie was almost ready to burst into tears. Aunt +Amanda was so exasperated that she could scarcely speak. The others +seemed to be stupefied. + +"Oh! oh! oh!" cried Aunt Amanda. "You Toby, you! Now you've done it for +good. Why, why, _why_ can't you never remember anything? It's your +fault, and don't you never try to lay it to that Cabin-boy! And now +what'll we do if we ever get separated from Mr. Mizzen? How'll we ever +call him up to help us out of trouble if we get into it? Here's a +pretty kettle of fish, now ain't it? I hope and pray we can stick close +to Mr. Mizzen until we're all safe and--" + +"Look there!" cried Mr. Punch. "Bless me heyes, what do I see? Look at +the ship!" + +It was high time to look at the ship. No sooner had the Chinaman's head +disappeared into the depths of the ocean, than a change began to come +over the ship. It grew paler and thinner in the moonlight. The green +shutters along the side faded away one by one. The dark hull became +lighter; the sails grew so thin that at last the watchers could see the +stars shining through them. The whole ship seemed to waver and dissolve +into a pale mist. It did not sink; no, the bow was still high out of the +water, and all the masts and sails were visible. It simply faded away +where it stood. + +As it was becoming more and more vague, the voice of Marmaduke the +parrot came across the water out of the rigging; a far-away voice, which +grew fainter and fainter as the ship grew dimmer, until it died away as +if in the distance. + +"Th-th-th-three ch-ch-cheers!" it said. "Th-th-th-three ch-ch-cheers for +l-l-l-l-liver and onions--th-th-three ch-ch-cheers--l-l-l-liver--and--" + +As Marmaduke's voice died away, the ship dissolved like a pale ghost and +vanished. The Sieve was gone. + +The party of adventurers sat on their mattress raft in the midst of the +wide ocean, with never a ship to be seen; the long sea-swell rolled +placidly over the place where their ship had been. They sat huddled +together in silence around the Churchwarden, too horrified to speak a +word. + +The moon glistened on the Sly Old Codger's high silk hat. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE CRUISE OF THE MATTRESSES + + +"I wish," said Aunt Amanda, "that I had brought some sewing with me. I +don't suppose I could sew very well by moonlight on a mattress in the +middle of the ocean, but I don't believe this would have happened if I'd +had my sewing with me." + +"Hi carn't see 'ow that would 'ave--" began Mr. Punch. + +"Now look here," said Toby. "We've got to sit in the middle of this here +raft, or else she'll tilt over. Why don't you sit in the middle, +Warden?" + +"I _am_ sitting in the middle," said the Churchwarden. "I wonder what +the Vestry would say if they could--" + +"I wish it distinctly understood," said the Sly Old Fox, "that I am here +under protest. If I had for one moment imagined--" + +"Now listen to me," said Aunt Amanda. "There's got to be a captain of +this expedition, and as there's nobody here but a lot of helpless +men-creatures, I suppose I've got to be the captain myself. All those in +favor say aye. I'm elected. That's done. Warden, sit a little bit over +to the right." + +"Ay, ay, sir; ay, ay, ma'am; certainly," said the Warden. + +"Now everybody sit up close to the Warden," said Aunt Amanda. "There. Is +the raft balanced now?" + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the Churchwarden. "I mean, ay, ay, ma'am." + +"Then my orders as captain is, to sit still and see what's going to +happen." + +Nothing happened. Freddie grew sleepy, and leaned his head against Aunt +Amanda's shoulder. As he was falling off to sleep, a slim dark object +rose from the sea near by and whirred across the ocean and plopped into +the water. + +"Bless me heyes," said Mr. Punch, "hit's a flying-fish, as ever was." + +"Is it, really?" said Freddie. "Did he really fly?" + +"How wonderful is nature!" said the Sly Old Codger. "Such an opportunity +to improve the mind! My little friend, I trust you will profit by what +you have seen. It is very educational; very educational indeed." + +"Ahem!" said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg. "What do you +suppose--er--ahem!--if you will pardon me--what are those little things +sparkling out there on the surface of the water?" + +"Hit's a school of sardines!" said Mr. Punch. "Hi know them wery well; +when I was a lad--" + +"There must be millions of them," said Freddie. "Just look!" + +The tiny fish were leaping by thousands on the surface of the water, +immediately in the path of moonlight; and they flashed and sparkled as +they leaped. + +"Hi believe there's a great fish arfter them," said Mr. Punch. + +"Maybe a whole regiment of big fish," said Toby. "By crackey, there's +one now!" + +As he spoke, a black fin cut the water near the sardines, and they +became more agitated than ever; from the size of the fin, it must have +been a very great fish indeed; and along the upper edge of the fin was +a row of long sharp saw-teeth, looking big and strong enough to have +sawed through a wooden plank. + +"There's another one!" cried Freddie. + +"And another! and another!" cried Aunt Amanda. + +There must have been five or six of the great fish. + +"I hope they won't come near this boat," said Toby. "One of 'em would +just about turn us upside down if he struck us." + +"Mercy!" said Aunt Amanda. "Don't say such a terrible thing." + +At that moment a great round black back appeared above the surface of +the water, some hundred yards or so away, and in another moment a great +black blunt head joined itself to the back, and a spout of white vapor +rose from the head. + +"A whale!" cried several voices at once. + +"Oh!" said Aunt Amanda. "Suppose he should come this way?" + +The five or six fins of the great fish near the sardines now +disappeared. The whale threw up his enormous tail, and went down head +first beneath the water. Almost immediately, one of the saw-toothed fins +reappeared, much nearer the raft than before. + +"Merciful heavens!" cried Aunt Amanda. "He's coming towards us! Oh +dear!" + +The great fish was in fact evidently making straight towards the raft. +Freddie clutched Aunt Amanda's arm. The fin cut the water at a high +speed; it disappeared at times, but on each reappearance it was still +pointed towards the raft. + +"He's nearly on us!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Hold on tight, Freddie!" + +The great fish came on with a rush, and as he reached the raft struck it +with his back and slid under it. There was a tremendous bump, which +nearly sent the company flat; then there was a rubbing under the raft, +and everything was quiet again. + +"He's gone," said Toby. + +"No, 'e isn't," said Mr. Punch. "Look at 'is tail!" + +A great tail could be seen beyond the edge of the raft, just below the +surface of the water. It thrashed about and churned up the water +violently for a few seconds, and then waved back and forth quietly; but +it did not disappear. + +"By crackey," said Toby, "he's stuck! His fin has got stuck into the +bottom of the raft! He's got the whole kit and bilin' of us on his +back!" + +"Mercy on us!" said Aunt Amanda. + +"Is it really true?" said Freddie. + +"On due consideration," said the Churchwarden, "I think Toby's right." + +"Hi believe 'e is!" said Mr. Punch. "Blimy if I ever rode on the back of +a fish before! Now 'e's got us on 'is back, what's 'e going to do with +us?" + +"We're moving!" cried Freddie. + +"So we are!" said Aunt Amanda. + +"Blamed if we ain't," said Toby. + +The mattress craft was in fact moving; very slowly, indeed, but still +moving; and it was moving in the opposite direction to the fish's tail, +which could be seen now and then under the water, waving back and forth +like the tail of a swimming fish. + +"If this don't beat all," said Toby. "That fish down there has certainly +got his fin hooked into our mattress, and he's swimming along with us on +top of him. I've seen a snail crawlin' with his shell on top of him, but +a fish with a load of mattresses and live-stock is a new thing to me!" + +"I'm the captain," said Aunt Amanda, "and my orders is to sit as still +as you can and see where he's taking us to." + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the Churchwarden. "I mean, ay, ay, ma'am." + +The party huddled on top of the mattresses sat as still as mice, hardly +daring to breathe. Their little craft continued to move gently through +the water. They expected each moment that the fish would free himself, +but evidently his fin had embedded itself so firmly in one of the bottom +mattresses that he could not get loose; he went on swimming with his +load on his back. + +Hour after hour they waited to feel their craft stop; but hour after +hour it moved gently and slowly across the surface of the sea. They +settled themselves more comfortably against each other, and spoke very +little. No one noticed that their raft was now much lower in the water. + +The air was warm, the moonlight and the silence were extremely soothing, +and the motion of the raft was gentle and languorous. Freddie's head +sank against Aunt Amanda's shoulder, and his eyes closed; and in another +moment he was asleep. Aunt Amanda herself nodded, and her eyes closed; +she was asleep too. Toby yawned, and leaned heavily against the Sly Old +Codger; his eyes closed, and--in short, every eye closed, and every +frame relaxed heavily against its neighbor, and at last, doubled over in +a closely huddled group in the exact center of their mattresses, the +whole party slept; each and every one. + +The raft went on steadily and quietly through the water, the moon +glittered on the sea, the raft settled deeper and deeper, and there was +absolute silence on the ocean, except for a slight groan which came +regularly and gently from the nose of the Churchwarden. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A FALL IN THE DARK + + +Freddie was the first to be awake in the morning. He was cramped and +stiff. He sat up straight, rubbed his eyes, and stretched his arms. He +looked abroad, and the sight which met him caused him to grasp Aunt +Amanda's hand in excitement. + +"Land!" he cried, so loud that everyone awoke. + +"Blamed if it ain't," said Toby, and put on his white derby hat, +considering that he had thereby dressed himself for the day. + +All the others sat bolt upright, and stared across the smooth blue sea, +sparkling in the sunlight. + +Not more than a quarter of a mile away rose a tall black cliff straight +up out of the water. It stretched away on either hand for miles and +miles, and came to an end in the ocean at the right hand and the left, +so that it was probably the side of an island. The sea rolled up and +down at the foot of the cliff, making a beautiful white splash against +the rocks. + +"But how on earth," said Aunt Amanda, "are we ever to get ashore on such +a place as that?" + +"We're moving towards it," said Freddie. + +"Blamed if we ain't," said Toby. "We'll soon know whether we can get +ashore or not." + +They moved very slowly, and it was a long time before they came close +enough to the cliff to see what their chances of a landing might be. +They floated at last within two or three hundred yards of the cliff. It +was very dangerous looking; the waves rolled over huge black rocks at +its foot and broke in white foam against its side; it seemed the last +place in the world for a landing. + +A great swell rolled in from the sea and brought them nearer the +breakers. + +"My word!" cried Mr. Punch, excitedly. "There's a harch!" + +"A what?" said Toby. + +"See!" said Aunt Amanda. "There's a little archway in the rock, like the +mouth of a cave, over there to the right! Don't you see? With the water +pouring in! Over there!" + +It was true. There was an archway, like the mouth of a cave; and into +this the water was streaming in a strong current, making a kind of +passage-way, more or less smooth, through the breakers. + +"Yes!" said Freddie. "And I believe we're headed towards it!" + +Their course changed a little to the right, as if the fish who was +piloting them had now taken a correct bearing. They found themselves in +a passage through the breakers where the water swirled in towards the +arch. They were caught in this current and were swept to a point close +under the towering black rocks, and in another moment they were directly +before the opening. The current seized the raft as if with strong hands +and drew it in. + +They were in a cavern, narrow and high, whose interior was lost in +darkness. The current carried them onward into the dark. The roar of the +breakers suddenly ceased, and as they looked behind them the archway was +no more than a speck of light. Their raft turned slightly to the left, +and at that moment the speck of light disappeared, as if they had +turned a corner; and the darkness became so black that no one could see +even the person sitting next to him. + +"I wonder," said Toby, "if there are any matches and candles on board +this boat. I'm going to see." + +He was silent for a while, and it was evident from the tilting of the +raft that he had moved his position. Finally he said "Ah!" and a match +spluttered and went out in the breeze which was blowing past them; but +after it went out there remained a glimmer, and Toby was holding up a +lighted candle, and shielding it from the draught with his hand. + +"Found 'em in the tin with the biscuits," said Toby. + +He held the candle on high so that its little beam searched out the +darkness in front and on both sides. + +They were in a narrow passage-way. On each side was a wall of solid +rock, not ten feet beyond the edge of the raft. How high the wall was +they could not tell, for it was lost in the darkness overhead. They were +slipping along a narrow alley-way of water. Toby held the candle higher, +and everyone peered into the darkness ahead; but it was impossible to +see more than a few yards. + +"I wish it distinctly understood," said the Sly Old Codger, "that I am +here under--" + +"Never mind," said Aunt Amanda, "my orders as captain is, to say nothing +and wait and see what will happen." + +The raft turned a corner to the right, and slipped on silently in that +direction for a long distance, probably for more than a mile. Then the +raft turned again, this time to the left; and after about ten minutes +longer Toby suddenly said, "S-sh! What's that?" They all listened, and +heard afar off a sound as of rushing water, very faint, but +unmistakable. + +"Er--excuse me," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg. "Do you +think--ahem!--there is any--er--_danger_?" + +"I don't like it," said Aunt Amanda. "I don't think it's safe in here." + +"I think we are lower in the water," said Freddie. + +"So we are," said Toby. "The water's coming up over the top now, and if +we don't get on dry land soon, we'll all be sitting in a puddle." + +In spite of its being water-logged and lower in the water, the raft was +beginning to go faster, for the current had suddenly become swifter. The +wind blew stronger; it swept through the narrow passage-way so briskly +that Toby put his hat over the candle; but he was too late; the light +wavered and went out. A groan went up from the company. + +"I can hear that rushing sound plainer," said Aunt Amanda. + +"Hit's wery like a water-fall," said Mr. Punch. + +"I wish it understood," said the Sly Old Fox, "distinctly understood, +that I am here under protest. If I had ever for one moment imagined--" + +"O-o-oh!" screamed Aunt Amanda. "We're going--faster--o-o-oh!" + +She threw her arm around Freddie and held him tight. The current +suddenly became swifter; the raft, almost under water, was leaping +forward at a frightful speed. Directly ahead of them, growing louder and +louder, was the roar of rushing water. + +"Hold--on--tight, Freddie!" cried Aunt Amanda. + +"We'll all be done for," shouted Toby, "in another--minute, I +reckon,--hold--on--tight!" + +As Toby said this, the raft almost galloped. The roar of falling water +burst on them from close ahead. The raft seemed to rise up and then to +sink down. Its nose slanted downward. The roar of falling water was all +about them. Aunt Amanda screamed, but no one could hear her. The raft +paused and teetered for an instant; then it pointed downward, almost +straight, and the whole party, the raft, and the fish under the raft, +plunged downward through the darkness on a cascade of tumbling water; +down, down, down; the raft shot from under and the passengers shot off; +in a twinkling they were going down the water-fall on their backs. Would +they never reach the bottom? There did not seem to be any bottom; but-- + +In another moment, there were Aunt Amanda and Freddie (her arm still +about him) standing on their feet in about twenty-four inches of quiet +water on a solid bottom. Dark forms appeared, one after another, beside +them, and almost at once all the party were standing together in a +group, in about two feet of quiet water, on a solid bottom. + +"I fear," said the voice of the Sly Old Codger, "that I have lost my +hat." + +They could see that they were in a great chamber, whose walls they could +make out dimly on each side. They could not see the top of the +water-fall, but they could see its lower part very plainly. Through the +tumbling water of the fall, near the bottom, sunlight was shining. +Behind the water was an opening some six feet high, and as the water +fell across this opening the sunlight from without shone through it, +making it glow with green and sparkle with white. The water-fall hung +over this opening like a curtain. + +"Well," said Aunt Amanda, "I'm pretty near drowned, and my clothes are a +sight to behold. But I'm the captain of this expedition, and my orders +is, that we go ashore." + +The water proved to be shallow all about them, and they waded to a strip +of dry ground beside the wall which rose at their left as they faced the +fall. Aunt Amanda, whose cane was gone, was assisted by Mr. Toby and +Mr. Punch. + +"Blamed if my hat ain't gone too," said Toby. "She was a good hat, I'll +have to say that for her." + +The party walked along the edge of the water, and came to the end wall +of the chamber, opposite the fall. There lay the wreck of the raft, with +the tail of the great fish sticking out from beneath. + +"I fear," said the Sly Old Codger, "that the faithful creature has +departed this life." + +"He's dead as a doornail," said Toby. + +"Poor thing," said Aunt Amanda. "Anyway, my orders is to explore this +cavern, and see what we can find." + +At this end of the cavern the water was slipping away under the wall, +and this outlet explained why the water inside remained so shallow. The +party commented on it, and then walked along the side wall towards the +other end where the fall was. When they were midway along this wall, a +cry from Toby, who had left Aunt Amanda to the care of Mr. Punch, +startled the others. + +"What's this?" he cried. "Look here!" + +He was stooping over something, and as the others gathered round, they +saw that he was stooping over a pile of small square boxes, standing in +several long rows along the wall. + +Mr. Hanlon lifted one of the boxes, with a great effort, and shook it. A +jingling sound came from within. + +"Aha!" said the Sly Old Fox. "That beautiful music! It is the sound, +dear friends, the sound of--of Money!" + +"Bless my soul!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Is it?" + +"My opinion is," said the Churchwarden, "that there is gold in that +box." + +"Then open it!" said Aunt Amanda. + +Mr. Hanlon shook his head. The box was locked tight, and it was bound +with iron bands. All the boxes were locked, and they were all bound with +iron bands. + +"Come along this way," said Toby. "There's something more here." + +Further along the wall, leaning against it, was a row of large +coffee-sacks, each bound around the mouth by strong twine. One of these +sacks Mr. Hanlon quickly opened. He tilted it over and poured out its +contents on the ground. The party of onlookers gasped with astonishment. + +From the mouth of the bag fell pearl necklaces; diamond rings; ruby +rings; emerald rings; all kinds of rings; gold bracelets and chains; +silver forks and spoons; gold toothpicks; gold cups; silver vases; and a +great variety of other things of the same sort. + +It was a moment or two before anyone spoke. Then the Churchwarden said, +"It's my opinion that this is pirates' treasure." + +"Mercy on us!" said Aunt Amanda. "And they may be in here on us any +minute!" + +Mr. Hanlon opened others of the bags. Each was filled with rare and +costly articles of gold, silver, and precious stones. + +"Do you think it's really pirates?" said Freddie, in an awed whisper. + +"Not a doubt of it!" said Toby, in a voice much lower than before. "Look +at this!" + +He pointed to a placard on the wall above the sacks. The light was +almost too dim for reading, but the writing on the placard was very +large, and Toby, by standing on one of the bags, was able to make it +out. He read it aloud. + + "Beware! Hands Off! Whoever Shall Touch + it He Shall Die by the Hand of Lingo! + With a Knife in the Throat! Long Live + King James and the Jolly Roger!" + +"There a skull and cross-bones under it," said Toby. "Pirates, as sure +as you're born." + +"We'd better be getting away from here," said Aunt Amanda. + +"Better not speak so loud," said Toby. "How are we to----?" + +"S-sh!" said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, in a frightened +whisper. "Excuse me--look--I saw something under the water-fall. What's +that?" + +"Stand close back against the wall," whispered Toby, "and don't speak a +word." + +They crowded back against the wall, alongside of the treasure, and +looked towards the water-fall. + +A dark object was rising from the shallow water at the foot of the fall. +As they watched, another dark object appeared to come through from under +the fall and apparently from behind it; and this object rose also from +the shallow water near the foot of the fall, and took its place beside +the other. One after another, five more of these dark objects came from +under the fall and apparently from behind it, and stood upright in the +shallow water. + +There were now seven in all. They moved in a group towards the shore. +Each of them had two legs, and each was muffled from top to toe in a +single loose garment with baggy legs; they walked somewhat like a +company of bears. They stood on the dry ground, and one of them +proceeded to take off the loose garment with which he was muffled, while +the others assisted him with evident deference. + +First came off a close hood which covered his head, cheeks, and neck. As +the watchers by the wall saw his head, they held their breath in +terror, and Aunt Amanda clutched Freddie's arm. Around the head was a +tight-fitting kerchief, knotted behind; in his ears were great round +ear-rings; and gripped between his teeth was a long pointed knife. + +Aunt Amanda gave a sign as if she was about to scream, but Toby quickly +put his hand over her mouth. + +As the man with the ear-rings got himself out of the legs of his loose +garment, the party by the wall saw that he was a short and burly man, of +a ferocious aspect. In a sash which he wore was stuck on one side a +cutlass, and on the other a long pistol. He wore no coat, and his shirt +was open at the throat. His arms showed from the elbows down, and they +were thick with muscles. His trousers were knee breeches, buckled just +below the knee, and he was very bow-legged; his calves were big and +knotted. + +When his outer covering had been removed, it was plain that he was +perfectly dry from head to foot, except for water on his face and hands; +and while the others were taking off their coverings, he withdrew with +one hand the knife from between his teeth, and with the other hand wiped +the water from his eyes and face. He then stuck the knife in his sash, +waved his hands somewhat daintily in the air as if to dry them, took +from his breeches pocket a large white handkerchief, completed with this +handkerchief the drying of his face and hands, examined his finger-nails +carefully, blew on them, and proceeded to polish them delicately with +his pocket-handkerchief, at the same time swearing two dreadful oaths, +in a low tone of voice, at the six men who were struggling with their +coverings. When these had been removed, the six appeared in much the +same style of dress as the first, and each bore a cutlass and a pistol; +but their clothing was much ruder than his, and they had no ear-rings; +instead of sashes they wore leather belts. + +"Kerchoo!" rang out a sneeze as sharp as a pistol-shot, from the party +by the wall. + +"Dear me," said the Sly Old Codger, out loud, "I do believe I'm catching +cold." + +At the sudden discharge of the sneeze, the seven men jumped as if they +had in fact been shot. Each one snatched out his cutlass with his right +hand and his pistol with his left, and faced in the direction of the +sneeze. + +"Confound your cold," whispered Toby fiercely to the Sly Old Codger, +"now we're done for." + +The seven men with their cutlasses and pistols, with the ear-ringed man +in the lead, tiptoed stealthily in the direction of the sneeze. + +As they came closer to the party who were crouched against the wall, +Aunt Amanda slipped down quietly to the ground at Toby's feet. The +captain of the expedition had fainted. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CAPTAIN LINGO AND A FINE PIECE OF HEAD-WORK + + +The man with the ear-rings muttered something in a fierce undertone to +his six followers. They spread out behind him in a wide line. With a +stealthy step they came forward noiselessly. The party by the wall held +their breath in terror. Nearer and nearer came the seven men, still in +perfect silence. They reached the cowering company by the wall, leveled +their pistols at their breasts, held up their cutlasses ready to strike, +and looked at their leader for the command to kill. + +At this moment the man with the ear-rings observed the form of Aunt +Amanda on the ground. He stooped down and examined her, and stood up +again. Then he eyed the company of travellers with a hard cold eye, and +spoke deliberately and in a low voice. His manner of speech was somewhat +stilted and precise, and scarcely what might have been expected of a +pirate. + +"The ceremony," said he, "will be deferred for the moment. I commend you +meanwhile to perfect quietness; one movement, and the consequences may +be fatal. A hint is sufficient. I perceive here a lady in distress. 'Tis +a monstrous pity, indeed. I regret that we were unaware of the presence +of a lady; had we known, we should certainly have taken our measures +more fittingly. I crave your pardon. No one has yet accused Captain +Lingo of rudeness to a lady. Ketch, put up thy cutlass and go +straightway to the pool and wet this pocket-handkerchief. Be brisk, thou +muddle-pated son of a sea-cook! Haste!" + +The man called Ketch jumped as though he had been stung, and took from +Captain Lingo's hand a fine white cambric handkerchief which the captain +had produced from his breeches pocket, and running to the water +moistened it and returned in great haste. + +While this was going on, the poor captives were able to examine their +chief captor more carefully. They remarked with surprise the fine +quality of the handkerchief which he had handed to his man, and they +were even more surprised to note the whiteness and fineness of the linen +of his shirt. His breeches were of blue velvet, and his sash and the +kerchief which bound his head were of crimson silk. On the fingers of +each hand he wore three or four diamond rings, which sparkled +brilliantly in the half-darkness. His stockings were plainly of silk, +and the buckles at his knees and on his shoes were of polished silver, +outlined in diamonds. His face was hard and cruel, but its +unpleasantness may have been due to a long scar which crossed his mouth +from his right cheek to his chin. When he smiled, as he did in referring +to the lady in distress, the scar gave to his face a singularly evil +expression. + +Taking the wet handkerchief from Ketch's hand, he knelt beside Aunt +Amanda and bathed her face and wrists, slapping her cheeks and temples +smartly now and then with the handkerchief, and changing her position so +that her head lay lower than her body. After he had worked over her with +much care for a few moments, Aunt Amanda opened her eyes. She was +staring at the frightful crooked smile of a strange man with rings in +his ears and a kerchief on his head. She started up, bewildered. + +"Where's Toby? Where am I? Who are you?" + +"Captain Lingo, ma'am," said the strange man, "at your service." + +"Let me up," said Aunt Amanda. She struggled to her feet, rejecting the +assistance offered by the ear-ring'd man, and stood facing him, her +bedraggled bonnet very much over her right ear. "Who are you?" she said +again. + +"Your humble servant, ma'am," said the strange man, smiling his crooked +smile. "Captain Lingo, by name. A gentleman adventurer of the high seas. +Owner of the treasure which you have discovered here in our little +retreat. Known here on the Spanish Main as the Scourge of Ships, and +loyal servant of his blessed Majesty King James, whom the saints defend. +Your obedient humble servant to command." He made the lady a very +courtly bow. + +Toby whispered into Freddie's ear. "He can't be so terrible bad, not +with all that polite way of talking. Don't be afraid. We'll be all right +with this pirate. Who on earth is King James?" + +Aunt Amanda was also much relieved by the pirate's polite address. + +"As long as you are my obedient servant," said she, "I'll thank you to +help us to get out of here as soon as possible. We didn't want to come +in the first place, and we are in a hurry to get out." + +Captain Lingo laughed heartily. "They are in a hurry to get out, lads," +he said to his companions; and at this they all laughed uproariously. + +"I don't see anything to laugh at," said Aunt Amanda. "If we don't get +out of here soon, we'll catch our death of cold." + +This made Captain Lingo laugh more heartily than before. "Ha! ha! ha! +Their death of cold! That would be a rare fine thing, but a bit too +slow, lads, eh?" And the other six laughed again, so that the walls of +the chamber echoed with their mirth. + +"What do you mean by too slow?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"Madam," said Captain Lingo, "we are a little pressed for time. We +really could not wait for you to die of colds." + +"What?" said Aunt Amanda faintly, her feeling of confidence beginning to +ooze away. "Do you mean to say----?" + +"Madam," said the pirate, seriously, "I will put it to you plainly. +Our treasure, which you have discovered, has taken a great deal of +hard work to accumulate. We really couldn't bear to lose it. The +people of this island, and a great many other people besides, have +been trying for many years to find it. You have not only found it, +but you have even gone so far as to open certain of our bags, in +spite of the warning posted above your heads. Now picture to +yourselves, dear madam and gentlemen, what consequences would +certainly ensue if you were to leave--here--ahem!--alive." + +"Oh!" gasped Aunt Amanda. "Leave--here--alive!" + +"All the fruits of our industry would be lost, and our own safety would +be imperilled. You will readily see that, of course. 'Tis a pity so many +will have to die at once, for it will mess up the place very badly, and +I always endeavor to be neat. But why, _why_ did so many of you come at +once? Couldn't you have come, say two at a time? It would have made so +much less trouble." + +"Ho!" said Mr. Punch. "Hif we 'ad only stopped at 'ome, hall of us!" + +"However, I do not wish you to feel too keenly the trouble you are +putting us to; my brave lads will cheerfully put up with the +inconvenience, though I must confess the amount of blood will be quite +unusual, and so many bodies will be troublesome to bury. I wish it were +possible to have you walk the plank. However, pray do not bother too +much on our account." + +"We weren't thinking about you at all," said Toby. "We were thinking +about ourselves." + +"Oh," said Captain Lingo, in a tone of disappointment. "I beg your +pardon; I misunderstood. At any rate, we will now prepare for our little +ceremony. If there are any trifling articles of jewelry and the like, I +will be pleased to----" + +"But this boy!" cried Toby. "And this lady! You don't mean to--you can't +mean----" + +"Not for worlds," said Captain Lingo, "would I be rude to a lady. I +trust you will find my conduct towards the lady beyond reproach. There +shall be no rudeness of any kind. Merely a quick stroke, and all will be +over. No violence, no roughness of any kind; not a word to offend the +most sensitive ears. A single stroke, and the affair is done. And let me +tell you, I have here with me a Practitioner who is very expert in this +sort of business: our friend Ketch, in fact, who was so kind as to wet +the handkerchief for the lady. I assure you that you are in great luck +to fall into the hands of such a Practitioner; he will make it as +pleasant for you as possible; one stroke only, I promise you. With one +stroke of a cutlass, he is able to slice off a head as neatly as you +could do it with a broadaxe; there are very few who can do it with a +cutlass, let me tell you that. Many men have become famous by being +operated on by Ketch. I remember a case--However," he said, looking +about him as if considering something, and speaking rather to himself +than to the others, "it would be difficult to bury the bodies here, and +the light is not very good. I think, yes, I think it had better be done +outside. You are already wet, and I trust that another immersion will +not inconvenience you too much. Lads," he said to his six men, "put on +the rubber suits, and help our friends under the fall. Look alive, now." + +The six men immediately ran to their rubber suits and began to put them +on. While they were doing this, Toby put one arm about Freddie and the +other about Aunt Amanda. She lowered her head to his shoulder for a +moment, but she soon raised it, and standing very erect she said, "Very +well, if it must be, it must. It's easy to see that this bloodthirsty +villain means every word he says; but I ain't going to whimper; I'm the +captain, and I order that everybody keep up his courage, and wait and +see what will happen." + +"Ay, ay, ma'am," said the Churchwarden. + +"Do you know," whispered the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, "I believe +that we are in a good deal of--er--danger." + +Freddie put his hand in Toby's, and held it tight. "You keep close to me +if you can," said Toby, squeezing his hand. "We may be rescued at the +last minute; you never can tell. Don't lose your nerve." + +Freddie was trembling with fear, and the hand which held Toby's was as +cold as ice; but he said nothing; the others were being brave, and he +resolved that he would be as brave as the rest, up to the very last. He +began to think of his mother and his father, and to wonder what would +become of them if he should be--but he forced himself not to think of +that; he pressed his lips tight together, and commanded himself to be +brave. + +The six pirates returned, clad in their baggy rubber suits, and looking +very much like bears walking on their hind legs. They brought with them +Captain Lingo's suit, and helped him to get into it. When he was encased +like the others, with only his hands and face showing, he said: + +"Now, madam, I will assist you to the fall." + +"We'll attend to that," put in Toby, quickly. "Come on, Mr. Punch." + +Aunt Amanda's cane having been lost, she found more difficulty in +walking than formerly, but Toby and Mr. Punch supported her to such +good effect that she kept up with the others very well on their march +into the water towards the fall. All, except the pirates, shivered as +the cold water came again around their knees, and they looked with fear +upon the tumbling cataract which they were required to go under. There +was no help for it, however; the seven pirates surrounded them and +persuaded them to go on. They stood in a forlorn group in the quiet +water near the foot of the fall. + +"Now, madam," said Captain Lingo, "I will help you under." + +Toby and Mr. Punch, feeling that the pirate knew the way better than +they did, resigned Aunt Amanda to his care, not without some fear that +the villain might deliberately drown her on the way through. He made her +kneel in the water, and then lie flat; and with a strong arm he pulled +her under the water-fall and out of sight. + +"You're next," said a deep voice to Freddie, and Ketch the Practitioner +seized him and plunged with him under the water; and in an instant they +had disappeared beyond the fall. + +One after another the miserable, shivering victims were assisted by the +pirates under the water, and one by one disappeared. The Old Codger with +the Wooden Leg was the last, and one of the pirates returned for him. +When he had followed the others, the great half-dark chamber remained as +it had been before, in its empty solitude and gloom, without an ear to +hear the steady rush of water pouring incessantly down its fall. + +On the outer side of that rushing fall was a scene very different +indeed. The pirates and their captives stood under a blazing sun, +looking across a wide and beautiful landscape. Behind them, in the side +of a high hill overgrown with bushes, was the hole by which they had +come forth, and across the inside of this hole was the curtain of +falling water. Freddie wondered how anyone had ever had the courage to +plunge for the first time through that curtain into the unknown dark. +The heat of the sun was very grateful, and the clothing of the soaked +travellers began to dry perceptibly at once. The pirates took off their +rubber suits. + +Beneath the observers the ground sloped down into a broad valley, +chequered with grass meadows and dotted with trees. To their left, as +they gazed out across the landscape, the ground rose from the valley by +easy stages to a great height, no doubt forming the landward side of the +black cliff which bordered the ocean. + +To the right, the country rolled gently away from the valley in a vast +unbroken forest, a shimmering green ocean of tree-tops as far as the eye +could see. Far, far off where the forest rose in a kind of mound, +Freddie thought he could see what looked like the top of a round tower, +just emerging above the haze of trees. + +The pirates and their captives were standing on a little grassy plateau, +on which were great boulders here and there, and a few wide leafy trees. +Two or three fallen logs were lying near the edge of the plateau, where +it began to slope downward. + +Captain Lingo stepped out of his rubber suit, spread out his fine white +handkerchief on a boulder to dry, and twiddled his moist fingers +daintily in the air, after which he blew on his finger-nails and +polished them on his shirt-sleeves. + +"We are now ready," said he, "for the ceremony. Ketch, thy cutlass." + +Ketch drew his cutlass from his belt and handed it to the captain. It +glittered wickedly in the sunlight. The captain ran his thumb along its +edge, and nodded his head with satisfaction. + +"It will do," said he. "One stroke for each will be quite sufficient. +We will now proceed with the ceremony." + +He restored the cutlass to the Practitioner, who raised it high and gave +a swinging slash downward with it, as if to test his eye and arm. The +Practitioner then rolled his right shirt-sleeve up to his shoulder; he +was the largest man in the party, and his arm was the arm of a +blacksmith. + +"Stop!" cried Mr. Punch. "One moment! Captain Lingo! You are a +Henglishman, aren't you?" + +"I am an Englishman," said the Captain, swelling out his chest. "Long +live King James!" + +"Hi am a Henglishman also," said Mr. Punch, swelling out _his_ chest. +"You carn't murder a fellow-countryman in cold blood, now can you? Hi +s'y, you couldn't do that, you know. We're both subjects of her gracious +Majesty, we are. Long live Queen Victoria!" + +"Who?" said Captain Lingo. + +"Queen Victoria!" cried Mr. Punch. "She'd never, never forgive you +hif----" + +"Never heard of her," said Captain Lingo calmly. "I'm a loyal subject of +his Catholic Majesty King James the Second,--may all the saints defend +him!" + +"King James the Second!" cried Mr. Punch. "Why, 'e's been dead these two +'undred year, nearly! 'E's as dead as Christopher Columbus!" + +Captain Lingo started violently, and his face became dark with anger. + +"Dead? King James dead? Do you mark that, lads? He calls his blessed +Majesty dead! Aha! thou renegade Englishman, thou hast imagined the +death of the king! A felony, by St. George! And the punishment is death! +What, thou reprobate, dost thou not know 'tis a felony, punishable by +death, to imagine the death of the King?" + +"But 'e _is_ dead. One carn't live two 'undred years, you know." + +"You hear!" said Captain Lingo, his voice quivering with rage. "He +imagines the death of the King! Any judge in the kingdom would sentence +him to die for that! 'Tis the law! But enough talk. Captain Lingo is not +the man to stand by and see the law defied! For that, my pretty +Englishman, thou shalt die the death twice over. There shall be violence +in thy case. Thou shalt wish thou hadst never been born. Thou shalt be +kept for the last. Ay, ay; there shall be fine sport at his taking off, +eh, lads? Enough! Proceed with the ceremony. To imagine the death of the +King! Ketch, art thou ready?" + +"Ay, ay, Captain," said the Practitioner. + +The captain cast his angry eye over the terrified group shivering in +their damp garments. "One of you must be first. Who shall be first? Let +me see." Each person quailed as the pirate's eye rested on him. "One +moment. We will decide it by chance." + +He plucked seven sprigs of grass, and broke them into varying lengths. +He then held them in his hand so that only the even ends showed. "Now +choose," said he. "The longest blade shall be first." + +Each drew a blade of grass, except Mr. Punch, who had already been +reserved for the last. "Thou shalt be quartered alive," said the captain +to him. "To dare imagine the death of the King!" + +Freddie trembled as he drew his sprig of grass; but he did not draw the +longest; the longest blade fell to Mr. Hanlon, and the next to Freddie. +Mr. Toby was third, the Churchwarden fourth, the Sly Old Codger fifth, +Aunt Amanda sixth, and the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg seventh. + +"We will use that fallen log," said the captain, and led the way towards +it. He was now very stern; all his politeness had been dissipated by +the offense of Mr. Punch. + +"Toby," said Aunt Amanda, as they were moving towards the place of the +ceremony, "I hope you will excuse me for all the cross words I have ever +spoken to you." + +"Oh, nonsense, Aunt Amanda," said Toby, sniffling a little, "I've been a +trial enough, I know it. What will become of the shop?" + +"Poor Freddie!" said Aunt Amanda. "It just breaks my heart to see him so +brave. He's so young to have to--to--And his poor mother! Oh dear, oh +dear!" + +"Now then," said Captain Lingo, "you may sit down on the grass until +your turns come." + +Toby helped Aunt Amanda to sit down. Freddie sat beside her and pressed +his white face against her shoulder. The others grouped themselves on +the grass about them; all except Mr. Hanlon, who, knowing that his time +had come, stepped forward and stood before Ketch the Practitioner, who +was feeling the edge of his cutlass. + +One of the pirates produced from his pocket some strong twine, and bound +Mr. Hanlon's arms behind him. On a sign from Captain Lingo, this man led +Mr. Hanlon to the fallen log, and made him kneel beside it and rest his +head face down upon it, so that there was a good view from above of the +back of his neck. + +The dreadful moment had arrived. + +Ketch the Practitioner took his place by Mr. Hanlon's side, planted his +feet firmly, wide apart, tucked in his right shirt-sleeve at the +shoulder, and raised his gleaming cutlass high above his head. + +A scream from Aunt Amanda made him hesitate for an instant, but only for +an instant; as Aunt Amanda and Freddie closed their eyes and buried +their faces in their hands, the cutlass flashed twice around the head +of Ketch and came down with a swift and horrible slash straight upon the +back of Mr. Hanlon's neck. + +A single stroke was enough; Mr. Hanlon's head rolled off upon the +ground. + +"Well done, Ketch," said Captain Lingo, quietly. "I doubt if there's +another hand on the Spanish Main could have done it." + +Ketch blushed with honest pride at these gracious words. He swung his +bloody cutlass in embarrassment. All the pirates turned towards the pale +group on the grass, and Captain Lingo said, "Next!" + +Freddie stood up. His knees began to tremble under him, and his heart +was beating so fast that he could hardly breathe. Aunt Amanda flung her +arms about him as he stood beside her, and cried "No, no, no!" in a +voice of anguish. + +All eyes were on the Little Boy, as he stood awaiting his dreadful fate, +with Aunt Amanda's arms about him. His time had come. His friends were +waiting to see if he would be brave, and though his face was white his +courage did not fail him. He looked at them in farewell, and each one +gave him a tearful gaze in return. + +He turned his eyes towards the warm and friendly landscape, for a last +look at the world he was about to leave. It would be hard to go, and he +would need all his strength to bear the--A loud cry from Freddie +startled all the others. "Look!" he cried, and pointed a shaking finger. + +They looked, and what they saw was Mr. Hanlon. + +By the log on which his head had been cut off, Mr. Hanlon was standing, +his hands behind his back, and his head in its proper place on his +shoulders. He was smiling and bowing, and as the astonished spectators +gazed at him with their mouths open, he sprang lightly into the air and +clicked his heels together as he came down. + +[Illustration: Mr. Hanlon was standing by the log on which his head had +been cut off.] + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Toby in spite of himself. "Freddie, we've seen +that little act before, haven't we?" + +Freddie nodded. He remembered very well the first time he had seen Mr. +Hanlon's head cut off, at the Gaunt Street Theatre at home; he wondered +that he had not thought of it before. + +Captain Lingo was plainly very angry. His face turned a purple hue, and +the scar across his mouth showed very white. He fingered his knife +dangerously, and at the same time glared at Ketch, who was scratching +his head in bewilderment. The captain did not raise his voice, but he +spoke with deadly earnestness. + +"A fine workman thou, friend Ketch," said he. "Truly a pretty hand with +a cutlass, thou son of a sea-cook. I've a mind to let a little of thy +blood with this knife, thou scurvy knave. But I will give thee one more +chance. If thou fail again, by St. George thou shalt die the death. Once +more, now! And remember!" + +It was Ketch's turn now to tremble. He knew very well that Captain Lingo +would do as he had said, if he should fail a second time. His own life +hung on a thread now. + +"Ay, ay, Captain," he said huskily, and led Mr. Hanlon back to the +fallen log and made him kneel as before. + +As Mr. Hanlon's head lay across the log, he turned it round towards his +friends, and gave them a long slow wink. + +Ketch's cutlass flashed as before. Round his head it swung twice, and +down it came with a slashing stroke straight and true on the back of Mr. +Hanlon's neck. Off rolled Mr. Hanlon's head upon the ground. + +Everyone watched breathlessly; and Ketch did not breathe at all. + +For a second Mr. Hanlon's body continued to kneel headless beside the +log. Then the head on the ground popped like a flash to the neck it +belonged to, and fastened itself accurately there in place. Ketch turned +ghastly pale. + +Mr. Hanlon sprang up, opened his mouth wide in a soundless laugh, bowed +to Captain Lingo, jumped lightly into the air, and clicked his heels +together three times as he came down. + +Captain Lingo's face was a terrible sight to see. He gazed steadily at +Ketch. The unfortunate Practitioner was shaking like a leaf. Captain +Lingo slowly drew his knife, and held it behind him in his right hand. +With the other hand he pointed to the ground before him. + +"Hither, dog," he said, in a quiet, even voice. + +Ketch hesitated, gave a wild look about him, and advanced slowly towards +his captain. When he reached him, he fell on his knees and held up his +shaking hands. + +"No! no! no! captain," he cried. "Don't do it! Oh, please don't do it! I +done my duty always, and I ain't never failed before! Remember my poor +old mother, captain! Give me one chance, captain, just one! Don't kill +me! Captain! Captain!" + +The expression on Lingo's face did not change; but the glitter in his +eye became even more murderous than before. He said not a word, but with +his left hand snatched off the kerchief which bound Ketch's head, and +seized him by the hair; and with his other hand he brought the knife +swiftly around in front and lowered it to plunge it into Ketch's heart. + +At that moment Aunt Amanda, forgetting her lameness, struggled to her +feet, hobbled to the kneeling man, and throwing her body between him +and the knife, shrieked at Captain Lingo. + +"Stop! stop! you bloodthirsty villain! Ain't you got no shame? What are +you going to murder him for? Ain't he done the best he could? You're a +big bully, that's all you are! You ain't a man at all, you're a monster! +Put up that knife, and take your hand out of his hair! Ain't you ashamed +of yourself?" + +Captain Lingo was taken completely by surprise. His eyes opened wide and +his jaw dropped; he was so astonished that he took his hand from Ketch's +hair and put up his knife. + +"That's the idea," said Aunt Amanda. "You're more of a man than I +thought. Mr. Ketch, you had better get up." + +"Madam," said Captain Lingo, making her a bow, "'tis a bold action and +generous. I trust I am able to respond to it in kind. My duty to you, +ma'am; your obedient humble servant. Ketch, thou white-livered dog, get +up, and thank this lady for thy life." + +Ketch, still pale and trembling, stood up, and seizing one of Aunt +Amanda's hands in both of his, made a low bow over it and kissed it +fervently. By the look in his eyes it was plain to see that he was from +that moment her devoted slave. + +"Madam and gentlemen," said Captain Lingo, "I am sorry to inform you +that the ceremony is over, until I can obtain another Practitioner to +take the place of Ketch. I blush with shame when I think how I boasted +of his skill. I hope you will not think I meant to deceive you. I assure +you I am more disappointed than you can possibly be. I am provoked and +disgusted and irritated; I am annoyed; I can't deny it. There is nothing +to do but to retire to our home in High Dudgeon." + +"What's that?" said Aunt Amanda. "Is it a place, or is it just the way +you feel?" + +"Ask me no more," said Captain Lingo, turning away. "I must confer with +my lads about our next step." + +"Are you going to take us with you?" asked Aunt Amanda. + +"We shall certainly give ourselves that pleasure, madam," said the +captain, rather stiffly. "Lads, come with me." + +On a sign from the captain, one of the pirates cut the twine which bound +Mr. Hanlon's hands, and the restored one joined his friends on the +grass. The seven pirates moved away to a spot some score of yards apart, +where they all sat down on the ground and engaged at once in animated +talk. + +"I conclude," said the Churchwarden, "though I don't know as I'm right +about it, and other people may have a different opinion, that we're a +good deal better off--" + +"What I say is," said Toby, clapping Freddie on the shoulder, "what I +say is, three cheers for Mr. Hanlon!" + +"Yes!" said Freddie. "That's just what I said that day after the +theatre!" + +"I wonder," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, "I wonder +if--er--ahem!--if Captain Lingo has--er--such a thing as a pinch of +snuff about him." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HIGH DUDGEON AND LOW DUDGEON + + +The pirate captain and his men rose from the ground, and Captain Lingo, +in his politest manner, requested his captives to follow him. The entire +party moved down the slope into the valley, and after a walk of some +quarter of a mile entered a grove of trees. In this grove were tethered +ten handsome mules, of which seven were saddled and three were laden +with packs. + +One of the pack-mules was quickly unladen, a fire was built, and in ten +minutes the hungry guests and their hosts were making a very good +breakfast of bacon, fried by Mr. Leatherbread, as the captain called +him, one of the pirates to whom the business of the frying-pan was left +by general consent. When the bacon had been washed down with clear cold +water from a spring near by, and the mule had been packed again, Freddie +and Aunt Amanda were assisted into the saddles of the two smallest +mules, and the captain mounted into the saddle of the largest. + +"Now look here, Captain Lingo," said Aunt Amanda, "I want to know where +we are going and all about it. The idea of me sitting here a-straddle of +a mule! And this bonnet simply ruined, and my dress just about fit to go +to the rag-bone man, and my hair--Look here, Captain Lingo, I ain't +going a step on this mule until you tell me what--" + +"Pardon me, my dear lady," said the captain, "but I must ask you to put +up with my little whims a short while longer. I beg the pleasure of your +society upon a little journey; nothing more. I assure you the country +is very interesting. May I not promise myself the bliss of your +approval?" He turned to the six pirates with a scowl. "Mount the rest of +them, scoundrels!" + +Four of the captives were mounted by the pirates on the remaining mules, +and the procession moved out of the grove into the open valley. + +Freddie had never ridden a mule before, and he was delighted. When they +entered, as they soon did, the great forest which they had seen from the +plateau, Freddie was more than ever delighted. After the blazing sun of +the open country, the shade of the forest was delicious. The trees were +huge, and while the trunks were far apart, their branches made a leafy +roof overhead which was almost unbroken. Flowering plants grew +everywhere; vines climbed the trees; little streams murmured here and +there; and the only sound which disturbed the repose of the forest was +the occasional screech of a parrot and the occasional chatter of +monkeys. The first time Freddie heard the sudden scream of a parrot in +the stillness he was thoroughly alarmed, but when he learned what it +was, and saw the flash of the bird's plumage between the trees, he +forgot all about his danger, and for the rest of the day he gave himself +up to the pleasure of watching for parrots and monkeys among the +branches. + +The Sly Old Codger turned in his saddle and said to Toby, who was riding +behind, with Mr. Punch walking between: + +"A work of nature, my dear friend, a real work of nature. _So_ +beautiful! Parrots and monkeys flitting about overhead, the primeval +forest stretching its bosky arms above us in all directions--_so_ bosky! +What one might call a real work of nature; so very, very bosky." + +"Right you are," said Toby. "It puts our Druid Hill Park in the shade, +that's a fact; makes it take a back seat and play second fiddle, as sure +as you're born." + +"Hi beg your pardon," said Mr. Punch. "'Ow can a park sit down and play +a fiddle?" + +All day long they moved onward, single file, further and further into +the depths of the forest. At noon they halted for a luncheon of fried +bacon, prepared by Mr. Leatherbread. The afternoon wore on, and the +forest became gloomier and gloomier about them as they marched; the +silence grew almost terrifying; and all the pleasure which Freddie had +felt in the morning vanished. Night fell, and the procession entered a +little clearing, and there the pirates made camp for the night. + +After a supper of fried bacon, prepared by Mr. Leatherbread, the whole +party retired to rest, each on a mattress of green branches and leaves, +covered with blankets. The night was mild, and when the last blanket had +been made ready the moon rose and tinged the tops of the trees with +silver; and while Freddie was watching the moon as it climbed higher, he +fell asleep. Aunt Amanda did not go to sleep so soon. + +Ketch the Practitioner had devoted himself very specially to her in +preparing her resting-place. While he was spreading the branches and +blankets for her, she said to him: + +"Ketch, where are we going?" + +"Not so loud, ma'am," said he. "We are going to High Dudgeon." + +"High Dudgeon! What's that?" + +"S-sh! When we're disappointed, or disgusted, or vexed, we always go to +our home in High Dudgeon." + +"Is that where you live?" + +"Part of the time, ma'am. Mostly we are away at sea or on the Island; +but when anything goes wrong, and we're angry about it, we always go +home and stay there, in High Dudgeon. Yes, ma'am." + +"And what are they going to do with us when they get us there?" + +"S-sh! You'll be in great danger there. If you can find any way to +escape from there, I advise you--S-sh! Not another word. Captain Lingo +is looking this way. I must go." + +Aunt Amanda did not sleep very well that night. + +In the morning, after a breakfast of fried bacon, prepared by Mr. +Leatherbread, the company resumed its march. + +At noon, a halt was made beside a spring for rest and food, and here Mr. +Leatherbread prepared a luncheon of fried bacon. + +In the evening, as the travellers were plodding onward, Ketch walked for +a time at the head of Aunt Amanda's mule. Aunt Amanda leaned forward and +said to him: + +"Ketch, are we going to have more bacon tonight?" + +"No, ma'am," said he, in a low voice. "We'll have supper in High +Dudgeon. My old mother's the cook there. You heard me mention her +yesterday morning. I've an idea there'll be pigeon pies for supper. And +mark what I'm saying to you, ma'am." His voice sank to a whisper. "If +you get a pigeon pie for supper, look careful to see what's inside of it +before you eat it." + +"Mercy on us!" said Aunt Amanda. "Are they going to poison us?" + +But Ketch slipped away in the gathering darkness, and said no more. + +They had gone but a few hundred yards further, when, at the moment when +the darkness of night was making ready to blot out everything, they +suddenly emerged into a round grassy clearing enclosed by the forest, +where the light was better, and over which a star or two could be seen +glimmering in a pale blue sky. In the midst of this clearing rose a +tower. + +It was a round tower, built of stone; its top came scarcely to the top +of the surrounding trees, and it was in fact not more than two stories +high; it appeared, with its wide girth, low and squat. Its sides were +pierced here and there with deep and narrow slits, for windows, and on +one side was a heavy oaken door, with great iron hinges and an iron +lock. Through two or three of the upper slits in the wall glimmered a +light from within. It was otherwise dark and forbidding. + +Aunt Amanda found Ketch at her mule's head again. She leaned forward and +said to him: + +"Is that High Dudgeon?" + +"No, ma'am. That's Low Dudgeon." + +"Low Dudgeon? What do you mean by Low Dudgeon?" + +Ketch looked at the tower and shuddered. "I don't like to talk about it, +ma'am. I don't like the place. It's the place where we used to live long +ago, before we built High Dudgeon. There's none of us wants to live +there now. We haven't lived there since--" Ketch paused, and shuddered +again, and evidently decided not to go on. + +"There's a light up there," said Aunt Amanda. "Does anybody live there?" + +"No, ma'am," said Ketch. "Nobody _lives_ there." + +"But there's a light," said Aunt Amanda. "Surely there must be somebody +there." + +"There is, ma'am; there is; thirteen of 'em." + +"Thirteen what?" + +But Ketch only shuddered again, and would say no more. + +Aunt Amanda noticed that instead of going straight onward past the door +of Low Dudgeon, the pirates led the file in a wide course away from it, +along the edge of the clearing, as if to avoid coming near to it; and +when the procession had thus skirted the clearing and entered the forest +again on the other side, leaving the low tower behind, a sigh, as if of +relief, went up from Ketch and all the other pirates; except, however, +from Captain Lingo himself, who appeared to be wholly indifferent. + +"How much further?" said Aunt Amanda to Ketch. + +"About a mile, ma'am," said he. + +The last mile of their journey was a long mile, and it was traversed in +perfect darkness. The moon had not yet risen. Not a word was spoken, and +there was no sound except the pad of the mules' feet and the breaking of +twigs and branches as the travellers pushed their way through. The +prisoners were in a state of greater nervousness and anxiety than +before, and as they neared the place where their lives were to be +disposed of in one way or another, their sense of uncertainty became +almost unbearable. When it seemed that they must be close to the fateful +place, the procession suddenly halted, and at the same instant the +screech of a parrot startled the silence and made each of the prisoners +jump. + +"It's only the captain," said Ketch. "It's a signal." + +Immediately, as if in response, there came from a distance in advance +the note of a cuckoo, three times repeated. The procession moved +forward. + +A moment or two later, the whole company came forth from the forest +under the stars, and stood on the edge of a wide round clearing, grown +high with grass and weeds. In the midst of this clearing rose a tower. + +"High Dudgeon," said Ketch over his shoulder. + +This also was a round tower, built of stone; but it was very tall, much +taller than the highest trees, and from the top there must have been a +view of all the surrounding country, even as far as the hill within +which was the treasure cave; from the number of deep and narrow slits +which served as windows it must have been six or seven stories high. The +top of the tower was flat, with battlements around the rim. As a +fortress, it seemed to be impregnable; as a dwelling-house, it was very +dismal indeed. It was totally dark. The captives trembled at the thought +of being imprisoned in such a place. + +The wayfarers proceeded in their single file directly to the great +iron-bound oaken door of the tower, and those who were mounted got down. +Ketch assisted Aunt Amanda and Freddie to alight, and having done so he +took charge of the mules and led them away. + +Captain Lingo took from his breeches pocket a small key and unlocked the +door. + +"Be so kind as to enter," he said, and made way for the captives and his +men. + +When all were within, including Ketch, who had now returned, the captain +locked the door on the inside and restored the key to his pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SOCIETY FOR PIRATICAL RESEARCH + + +They were in a dark and narrow passage-way. As they stood huddled there +together, a candle glimmered at the end of the passage, held in a +tremulous hand, and lighting up the face of a very old woman. She +advanced towards the party by the door, and holding her candle high +above her head inspected the strangers with little blinking watery eyes. +She was short and bent; she hobbled as she came forward; her face was +seamed with deep wrinkles, and the hand which held the candle was +knotted and gnarled; wisps of dirty grey hair hung over her eyes. + +"Aha! Mother Ketch," said Captain Lingo. "I wager thou didst not expect +us so soon. What's in the larder? We are famished." + +Old Mother Ketch looked at her son, the Practitioner, and nodded her +head at him once or twice, blinking her eyes. Then she fixed her eyes on +Aunt Amanda, and seemed to forget everybody else. + +"Well? well?" said Captain Lingo, impatiently. "Art going to keep us +here all night? Come, woman! Speak up directly! What's for supper, eh?" + +Mother Ketch slowly removed her eyes from Aunt Amanda, and looked at the +captain steadily. + +"There's nought but pigeons and mushrooms and--" said she. + +"Good!" said the captain. "Then we will have pigeon pies; one for each; +and well filled, mind you. Now haste; be off." + +Mother Ketch turned and hobbled slowly down the passage, and the glimmer +of her candle disappeared. + +"Follow me," said Captain Lingo. + +The six pirates vanished somewhere in the darkness, and the others +followed Captain Lingo up a winding stair. At the top was a heavy door, +which he unlocked with his key, and locked again on the inside after his +guests had passed through. He then led them down a dark passage-way, and +turning to the right unlocked a door with his key and threw it open. + +They were in a large dining-room, on the table of which were numerous +candles, which the captain lighted. In one wall was an opening for a +dumb-waiter for sending up food from the kitchen below. The party seated +themselves at the table, and after a considerable time Ketch entered, a +napkin on his arm, and at the same time the dumb-waiter rose from the +kitchen, and the meal commenced. + +Ketch waited on the table. Besides pigeon pies there were mushrooms, a +lettuce salad, hot biscuit, and excellent coffee. Ketch placed the first +pigeon pie before the captain, and Aunt Amanda noticed that he examined +the top of it carefully as he did so. She observed that he examined the +top of each pie carefully before he placed it, until he had put one +before herself, after which he put the others about without looking at +them. She examined the top of her own pie herself, to see what Ketch +could have been looking at. She saw in the center of it a tiny figure +made of very brown dough, and as she looked closer it seemed to have the +shape of a tiny key. She glanced at the other pies, and none of them +bore any mark of this kind. + +Everyone set to with a good will, and Aunt Amanda opened her pie. She +remembered Ketch's caution, and she prodded it secretly with her fork +before taking a bite. At the bottom her fork touched something hard. She +immediately began to put the contents of her pie on her plate, and she +did so in such a way as to leave the hard object beneath the rest. In +the course of the meal, she dropped a portion of the pie to the floor, +and stooped to pick it up. As she did so, she managed to take the hard +object from her plate and conceal it in her lap. It was a key. + +When the meal was over, the captain led his guests forth to their +respective bedrooms, each carrying a lighted candle from the table. At +the top of a stair was a closed door, which he unlocked with his key, +and locked after the others had passed through. Along the passage which +ran from this door were doors at intervals in the walls, and these he +opened, one after another, showing one of his guests each time into a +bedroom and leaving him there. On the stair, Aunt Amanda had whispered +into Toby's ear the words, "Don't go to bed. Pass it along." And these +words had been passed in a whisper from one to another of the captives. + +Aunt Amanda, in her own room, now sat herself down to wait. She blew out +her candle, and sat watching the shaft of moonlight which came through +the slit that served for a window. She must have fallen asleep, for she +came to herself with a start, and found the shaft of moonlight gone. She +limped to the door, and found it locked. She took from her dress the +pigeon-pie key and unlocked the door. The passage-way outside was silent +and dark. She felt her way along the wall to the next door, and found it +locked. She quietly unlocked it with her key. Toby was sitting within, +waiting. He rose without a word, and followed her. They tiptoed from +door to door, finding each one locked, and silently released each of the +prisoners. + +The key fitted every lock on their way down stairs. They reached the +ground floor without an accident, and there in the passage which they +had first seen they stopped to listen. They heard the click of a latch +at the rear; a door there opened quietly on a crack and a light shone +through; every heart stopped beating for a moment. The door opened +wider, and a lighted candle appeared, and over it the wrinkled face of +an old woman; she peered out into the passage, shading the candle with a +trembling hand; the party of quaking runaways stood as still as mice, +and held their breath; the old woman blinked for a moment into the +darkness, and blew out her candle. All was dark again, and the latch of +the door clicked. + +The runaways lost no time. They crept silently but rapidly to the +entrance door. Aunt Amanda unlocked and opened it, and they pressed out +hurriedly. They were standing on the grass in a flood of moonlight. + +Aunt Amanda, whose lameness had been almost forgotten in her excitement, +now leaned on Toby, who was holding Freddie's hand, and who led the way +to the rim of the forest where the trail lay. There was some difficulty +in finding the trail, but they did find it at last, and they filed into +the forest. They had not gone more than twenty yards when Toby, who was +in advance, saw a great black object directly across their path. He went +forward cautiously, in spite of his alarm, and breathed a sigh of joy +when he saw what it was: it was a mule, saddled and bridled, and tied to +a bush. Further on were other mules, all tethered; there were ten in +all, of which eight were saddled and two were laden with packs. + +"Blessings on that Ketch," whispered Aunt Amanda. + +In a moment the entire party were mounted. In another moment they were +going along the trail at a fast walk. The mules knew the way, and there +was now no danger of going astray in the forest. Only, where were they +to go, after all? If the pirates should catch them, everything would +soon be over. If they should manage to elude the pirates, they would +still be lost in the wilderness of this unknown Island. What was to +become of them not one could tell. The future seemed very dark indeed. + +Once or twice they paused, to listen for sounds of pursuit; but they +heard nothing; not a sound disturbed the stillness; and the little +moonlight which filtered here and there through the trees seemed to make +the darkness more intense. + +They had gone about half a mile, and were plodding along in drowsy +silence, when suddenly, out of the tall bushes beside the trail, seven +dark figures sprang upon them and seized the bridles of their mules. + +"Ah!" cried Toby. "We are lost! The pirates!" + +The mules stood stock still. + +"It's no use," said Toby. "We can't escape. They are armed, and we are +not. All right, Captain Lingo, don't strike; we surrender. We'll go back +with you; don't strike." + +"I beg your pardon," said a voice which none of them had ever heard +before. "Are you pirates?" + +"Ain't you pirates yourselves?" cried Aunt Amanda. + +"What?" said the voice. "Is there a lady here? In that case, you are +probably not pirates. Perhaps we have been too hasty. I beg your +pardon." + +"Who are you?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"Do you admit that you are not pirates?" said the voice. + +"Admit it!" said Aunt Amanda. "We vow and declare it! The very idea!" + +"I am sorry to hear it," said the voice. "We are deeply disappointed. We +of course cannot doubt the word of a lady, but we were almost sure we +had found them. We have been searching for pirates for a long time, and +we were advised that they lived somewhere near here. We must have missed +our way. Could you perhaps direct us? It is a place called High +Dudgeon." + +"You bet we could," said Toby, "but we won't. We are running away from +there, and you had better run too." + +"Then perhaps you happen to know the whereabouts of a place called Low +Dudgeon, where the pirates formerly lived?" + +"We do," said Toby. "You are about half-way now between High Dudgeon and +Low Dudgeon; and you had better get out of this neighborhood as fast as +you can." + +"This is very interesting," said the voice. "I feel that you will be +able to give us some valuable information. If you have no objection, we +will walk behind you until we come to a place where there is more light, +when we will have a few minutes' conversation on this interesting +subject." + +The seven dark figures stood aside, and the mules moved onward. The +seven figures walked behind. + +In five minutes they reached a patch of ground where the moon shone +brightly through the trees, and the riders drew in their animals, and +turned to look at the figures who now marched sedately up beside them. +These figures stood in a row facing the riders, and six of them turned +their heads to the right, looking towards the first in the row, who was +probably their leader. + +They were seven tall men, dressed in black frock coats and striped +trousers, with pearl-gray spats; but instead of high silk hats each wore +a small black skull-cap, as more convenient, no doubt, for their rough +life in the forest. It could be seen that they were no ordinary men; +they looked like professors at college; their faces were thoughtful and +even intellectual; each one wore spectacles; they squinted as if from +too much poring over books by lamplight. The one at the head of the row +was fat, with mutton-chop whiskers, and his frock coat was buttoned +tight over a round stomach. He spoke in the same voice which they had +heard in the dark. + +"I beg your pardon," said he. "If you will be so kind as to direct us +either to High Dudgeon or to Low Dudgeon, we will not fail to gratefully +acknowledge--" + +"Aha!" said one of the others, in a playful tone. "A split infinitive, +Professor!" + +"I beg your pardon. A slight inadvertence. To acknowledge gratefully +your kind--" + +"There's no time to talk now," said Toby. "We are running away from +these bloodthirsty cut-throats, and if they catch us we are dead, as +sure as you're born. I'll tell you what we will do. We'll all keep on to +Low Dudgeon, and we'll go in there, if we can get in, and decide there +what we had better do. It looked like a strong tower, and we would +certainly be as safe inside there as out of doors, if the pirates should +come along." + +The Professor looked down the line of his companions. "What is the sense +of the Committee on this proposal?" said he. "Ah. Very good. We are +agreed. Proceed, my dear sir." + +"One minute," said Aunt Amanda. "Excuse my asking, but I should like to +know who you are, anyway." + +The Professor waved a fat hand towards his companions, and looking at +Aunt Amanda, said: + +"We belong, madam, to the Society for Piratical Research, under the +patronage of his gracious Majesty, the King of this Island. You behold +before you a committee of that Society; the Committee on Doubtful and +Fabulous Tales, sometimes called for the sake of brevity, from the +initials of its title, the Daft Committee. As Third Vice-President of +the Society for Piratical Research, I have the honour to be Chairman of +the Daft Committee. The seat of our Society is far from here, in the +principal city of this kingdom, the famous City of Towers, blest as the +residence of his gracious Majesty, the most learned and liberal of +princes. Our camp, which we made only late this evening, lies at no +great distance from this spot. We did not wish to delay our researches +until morning, and so, as Third Vice-President of the Society for +Piratical Research, and Chairman of the Daft Committee, I--" + +"Much obliged," said Toby. "We've no time to listen to any more. We must +get on." + +The Daft Committee, led by the Third Vice-President, fell in behind the +mules, and the whole party moved forward, as rapidly as the mules and +the committee could walk. + +Aunt Amanda felt far from easy at the prospect of entering Low Dudgeon; +but she had told Toby something of Ketch's strange words and manner +regarding that place, and she was glad to leave the responsibility to +him. Their dark and silent progress through the forest continued, and +when they had gone what they thought must have been about half a mile, +they knew they must be near their destination. Every eye was watchful +and every ear was alert. A grunt from Toby in advance notified the +others that they had arrived, and they filed out of the forest into the +clearing, and saw before them the squat tower of Low Dudgeon in the +moonlight. + +The same light as before appeared from within, through the upper slits +in the side of the tower. As they drew in their mules at the edge of the +clearing, the Daft Committee came up, and the Third Vice-President spoke +in a low voice. + +"I presume," he said, "that this is Low Dudgeon. I have heard of it, but +I have never seen it. It was formerly, some hundred years ago, the +headquarters of the pirates. But something occurred here, I do not know +what, which impelled the pirates to move. They accordingly built +themselves a much better residence, known as High Dudgeon, where I +understand they now live. I do not believe that Low Dudgeon has been +occupied since. Gentlemen," he said, turning to his companions, "we are +fortunate in having found this interesting place at last, after so much +trouble. It is the very spot in which to begin our researches." + +A murmur of approval arose from the other members of the committee. + +"I don't know whether it's occupied or not," said Aunt Amanda. "Ketch +told me that no one lives there, and that there's thirteen of 'em; and +he seemed to be afraid of the place. And there's a light up there. I +don't understand it." + +"Gentlemen," said the Third Vice-President, "is it the sense of the +committee that we begin our researches in Low Dudgeon?" + +Every member of the Daft Committee murmured his assent. + +"If we go into the forest," said Toby, "we may be caught; if we go in +here, we are safe for a while, anyway, and we can decide there what we +had better do; maybe these gentlemen can send for help. Anyway, let's +get in if we can." + +The riders dismounted from their mules and tied them to trees; in +another moment the whole party were standing before the door of the +tower. + +"Better knock," said Toby. + +They knocked, and knocked again; there was no answer. + +"Aunt Amanda," said Toby, "try your key." + +Aunt Amanda tried the key, and it fitted; she turned it, and the lock +snapped back. Toby thrust open the door. + +The company entered, and Toby took the key and locked the door behind +them. They were in a dark passage, near the foot of a winding stair. +"We had better go up where the light is," said Toby, in a whisper. + +They went cautiously and noiselessly up the stair to the landing. There +they found themselves in a hall, and at a little distance down the hall +they saw a dim light shining under a closed door. "There it is," said +Toby. "Come on." + +With the same breathless caution they tiptoed to the door. It had no +lock, and Toby turned the knob and slowly pushed it open. + +"Ah!" said Toby, in a frightened gasp, and started back. + +The others crowded at his back and pushed him forward. The Third +Vice-President of the Society for Piratical Research brushed past him +into the room, and the other six members followed him. The party of +fugitives moved slowly in after them. + +In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the center of this +table stood some twenty wax tapers in silver candlesticks, burning +brightly; and seated around the table were thirteen men. + +Not one of these men moved as the party came into the room. Not a limb +nor muscle stirred. The Third Vice-President coughed aloud. Still none +of the men moved so much as a finger. The whole party came forward to +the table and stood close behind the thirteen men and examined them. +They were dead. + +They were sitting in all positions. Food was before them, as if they +were in the midst of a meal. Some were leaning across the table as if in +conversation. Some were in the act of cutting meat on their plates, some +in the act of putting forks to their mouths. Every face was ghastly +white, and every eye was fixed in a vacant stare. + +"See!" said Toby, in a whisper, pointing to their backs. + +From the back of each was sticking the handle of a knife, the blade of +which was buried in the flesh to the hilt. + +Aunt Amanda sank on Toby's shoulder for a moment, but she soon +recovered. Freddie grasped Toby's hand. + +"Look," said Toby. "They must be pirates." + +Each head was bound with a bright-colored kerchief, and as the horrified +company examined the dead men closer, it was seen that they all wore +knee breeches. A long dagger was sticking upright in the table, just +under the candles. Pinned by this dagger to the table was a large sheet +of white paper, and there was evidently writing on it. + +The Third Vice-President had apparently little fear of thirteen dead +men; he went directly to the table, and reaching across between two of +the stiff figures drew the dagger from the table and took from the +dagger's point the sheet of paper. He adjusted his spectacles, turned +his back to the candles so as to obtain a good light on the paper, and +read from it aloud: + +"Thus does Captain Lingo serve All Traitors." + +For a moment there was silence. Then Aunt Amanda spoke sharply. + +"The wicked villain!" said she. "Thirteen of his men dead at once, by +his own hand! No wonder the six that are left are afraid of him! No +wonder they don't like this place! Oh the wicked scoundrel! If I had him +here, I declare I would--" + +She paused suddenly and listened. There was a stealthy creaking on the +stairs. It grew more distinct; then it stopped, and there was silence. + +The thirteen in their chairs made no motion whatever; but the living +turned with one accord towards the open doorway of the room. They waited +with bated breath. In another moment Captain Lingo himself was standing +in the doorway, a pistol in his right hand and a knife in his left. +Without a word he advanced into the room, and behind him came his six +men, shrinking obviously away from the sight of their thirteen murdered +friends. + +As Captain Lingo came to a stand before his recent prisoners, his eyes +blazed, and with his right thumb he cocked his pistol. Each of his men +held a pistol in his right hand and a cutlass in his left, and each +cocked his pistol with his thumb. + +The Third Vice-President of the Society for Piratical Research, who +seemed in no wise disconcerted, stepped forward and addressed the +pirate. + +"Captain Lingo, I presume?" + +"Ay, ay; be quick. I must finish this business quickly." + +"My committee and myself have been long anxious, sir, in the interest of +science, to make your acquaintance. I rejoice at this opportunity." + +"Oh, indeed," said Captain Lingo, drily. + +"Yes, sir; I assure you I am delighted. I believe I have the pleasure of +speaking to a subject of King James the Second." + +"Ay, ay," said Lingo, eyeing him suspiciously. "What then?" + +"Then the records of our Society are vindicated. They go back, my dear +sir, some two hundred years; and they contain, from various sources, an +unbroken account of Captain Lingo and his exploits from the time of +James the Second to the present. But the sources of our information were +not always reliable; some doubts were thrown upon our records by jealous +persons outside the Society; and as it is the special business of the +Committee on Doubtful and Fabulous Tales to look into such matters, the +Committee is here before you at the present moment in the interest of +truth. No member of our Society has ever seen Captain Lingo, and the +jealous persons I have mentioned pretend that no such person has ever +existed. The chief mission of our Committee is to vindicate our records +by a sight of Captain Lingo himself. Thanks to you, sir, that has now +been done. Our next mission is to determine for our Society this most +important question: are you alive or dead?" + +At this, the captain's brows came together in a terrible frown; the scar +across his cheek and chin turned very white; and he glared under his +eyebrows dangerously at the complacent Third Vice-President. His lips +parted, showing his white teeth clenched tight together. He started to +speak through his clenched teeth, and leveled his pistol straight at the +Third Vice-President's breast; but at that moment a cry from the +Churchwarden startled everybody. + +"Bless my soul! Why didn't I never once think of this before? These men +ain't real persons at all! How could they be, after two hundred years? +They're no better than wicked spirits! That's what they are, wicked +spirits! Why didn't we think of that before? Aha! my fine friends, I've +got a little medicine here for you! Ha! ha!" + +He drew forth from his back pocket a little perfume bottle, and waved it +over his head. + +"Hurrah!" he cried. "Hurrah for the Odour of Sanctity!" And with these +words the Churchwarden uncorked the bottle and sprinkled a few drops of +his perfume on the floor, directly at the feet of Captain Lingo. + +A sharp odour instantly filled the air; so sharp that it brought tears +to the eyes of everyone. Captain Lingo and his men stepped quickly +backward, but it was too late. A look of pained surprise crept over +their faces, and remained fixed there. Their feet stood rooted to the +floor, and the hands which held the cutlasses and pistols stiffened and +became rigid. Not one of them could move an eye-lash. Their outlines +began to waver; their faces began to be dim and vague, as if covered +with close white veils; from their outsides inward they slowly faded, +melted, dissolved; nothing remained of any of them but a wraith, a +vapor, a puff of smoke, remotely in the shape of a human being; and then +that also vanished; nothing remained; the place where they had been was +empty. + +All eyes turned to the table where the thirteen murdered pirates had +been sitting. They were gone. Their chairs were vacant. + +The Churchwarden calmly put the stopper in his bottle and restored it to +his pocket. + +"Humph!" said he. "Nothing like Odour of Sanctity. Never knew it to +fail. No harm to human persons, but no wicked spirit as ever lived can +stand against it; and a blessed good thing the bottle didn't break as we +came down the water-fall. No perfumery in this world like Odour of +Sanctity!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A KNOCK AT THE DOOR + + +The Third Vice-President and his fellow-members of the Daft Committee +seated themselves in the chairs just vacated by the thirteen murdered +pirates. Nothing could have persuaded any of the others to sit in those +dreadful seats; but no feeling of this sort appeared to disturb the +Committee, and they evidently saw no reason why they should not be +comfortable. + +The Third Vice-President drummed on the table with his fingers, and +frowned to himself in silence. One of the Committee, taking his +skull-cap from his head and smoothing it thoughtfully with his hand, +glanced up at the Chairman and said: + +"I fear, Professor, that our hopes are dashed. It is nothing less than +disastrous." + +"You are right, my dear sir," said the Chairman. "It is a terrible +misfortune; terrible indeed. And just when we were on the point of--" + +"What!" exclaimed Toby in astonishment. "Do you mean to say you are +sorry those rascally pirates are gone?" + +"My dear sir," said the Chairman, very patiently, "I am finding no +fault. I do not wish to blame anyone. The loss of these pirates to +science is one that can never be compensated. The Society for Piratical +Research is now at an end. There are no other pirates on this island, +and you must see for yourselves that without pirates our society must +perish. It is a woful--" + +"Well, I never!" said Aunt Amanda. "Of all things! Do you dare to sit +there and tell me you'd rather see us all murdered by pirates than--" + +"Be calm, my friends," said the Third Vice-President, placidly. "I have +already said that I do not wish to find fault. I desire to be generous. +It is my wish. In fact, I forgive you freely. Whatever bitterness you +may have caused us, we are willing to believe that it was not +intentional. The Daft Committee forgives you; freely. Let us be +peaceful. It only remains to decide what steps we shall take to meet the +future. I submit to you this question: whether we shall first go to the +pirates' home in High Dudgeon, or return at once to the City of Towers, +to confess our failure and receive our--Hark! I thought I heard a +knock." + +Everyone listened. There was indeed the sound of knocking, muffled but +quite audible. The group standing about the table looked from one to +another in silence. Was this some new danger? Were there other pirates +to be reckoned with? The Churchwarden put his hand to his back pocket, +to be ready with his bottle. + +"I think it comes from within this room," said the Third Vice-President. + +All eyes examined the room. The walls were unbroken, except by +window-slits on one side, the open doorway on another, and on a third a +closed door, which no one had before observed. Toby walked over to this +closed door, and placed his ear against it. A muffled knock sounded from +within. + +Toby nodded his head to the others, and tried the door. It was locked. +"Lend me your key, Aunt Amanda," said he; and when she had given it to +him he inserted it in the lock and turned it and threw wide the door. +Inside was a dark closet hung with cloaks. On the floor sat a man. + +Toby stepped back in amazement. The man sat motionless, his legs +crossed, gazing out into the lighted room. After a second or two he +rose, and stood in the doorway, rubbing his eyes. He said not a word, +but continued to rub his eyes until they evidently became used to the +light, and gave two or three sniffs, as if he smelt an odour, and found +it far from agreeable. + +He was a thickset man, dressed in sailor's clothes, in no way like the +clothes the pirates had worn. His eyes were small and very close +together; his nose was broken and flat; his lower jaw stuck out beyond +his upper; an unpleasant fellow enough, if looks were anything. In his +belt he carried a long knife. His sailor collar was cut low in front, +and his chest was tattooed in red and blue ink. + +As he hesitated in the doorway, sniffing the air uneasily and blinking +his eyes, the Chairman of the Daft Committee spoke in his calm voice. + +"Come in, my good sir," said he. "I should like to take the liberty of +asking you a few questions." + +The sailorman walked slowly into the room and looked about him. + +"What's that there smell in the air?" said he. + +"Nothing only my Odour of Sanctity," said the Churchwarden. + +"I don't like it," said the sailorman. + +"I can't say that I like it much myself," said the Third Vice-President, +"but it is too faint now to be disagreeable. Pray be seated, sir." One +of the Committee rose and offered the sailorman his chair. The sailor +sat down and gazed at the Third Vice-President, who went on with his +speech. "You need have no fear, sir; if Captain Lingo causes you any +uneasiness, I may tell you that he is gone, never to return; and all his +men with him; even the thirteen dead men who were sitting in these +chairs until a few minutes ago." + +"What!" said the sailor. "Has them thirteen men been a-sitting here all +these years?" + +"My dear sir," said the Third Vice-President, "I assure you we saw them +with our own eyes. But you will perhaps be kind enough to tell us who +you are, and how you came to be locked up in that closet." + +"Humph!" said the sailor, hesitating. "I don't know who you are, nor +what you're doing in this here place. However, if Lingo's gone, and--Oh +well, I might as well tell you. By the looks of you, I ain't got much +cause to be afraid." + +"Your courtesy under the circumstances will be much appreciated," said +the Third Vice-President. + +"Courtesy be blowed," said the sailorman. "Well, here goes. I'm Matthew +Speak, able-bodied seaman, of the brig Cotton Mather, out of New +Bedford, Reuben Higginson, master." + +"What!" cried Aunt Amanda, almost shrieking. "Are you--? The Cotton +Mather! Reuben Higginson! Did you know him? It ain't possible! I can't +believe it!" + +"It ain't nothing to me whether you believes it or not. I shipped with +Reuben Higginson at New Bedford and landed here with him and his crew on +this same identical Island, all tight and safe; here on Correction +Island, as the cap'n called it." + +"What!" cried Aunt Amanda again. "Is this Correction Island? Well, I +never! Here we are on Correction Island after all, and we never knew it! +Are you sure?" + +"That's what he called it, believe me or not. It ain't nothing to me, +but I seen it on the map I sold to Mizzen, and the cap'n wrote it there +in his own handwrite; that's all I know; but maybe if you'd hunt up this +here Lemuel Mizzen, a sailor with a patch on one eye and--" + +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Aunt Amanda. + +"By crackey," said Toby, "I wouldn't 'a' believed it. Lemuel Mizzen!" + +"Perhaps you will be so good as to tell us--" began the Third +Vice-President. + +"Freddie," said Aunt Amanda, "have you got the map?" + +"Yes'm," said Freddie, and produced it from his pocket. + +Aunt Amanda took it from him and spread it open on the table before +Matthew Speak. The sailorman glanced at it and nodded his head. + +"That's it," said he. "I don't know how you come by it, but that's it. +Higginson was lost with the Cotton Mather in a storm on his way back to +New Bedford, and a lucky chance for me I wasn't aboard. A good while +afterwards a fisherman off of this here Island picked up the map at sea +in a bottle, and I got it off'n him; he squealed a good bit when I stuck +him, but I got it, right enough. And then along comes Mizzen, me being +in hiding, and I sold it to him for a set of false whiskers and a +tattoo-needle." + +"Yes, yes," said Freddie eagerly. "Mr. Mizzen told me about it." + +"When Higginson sailed away from here in the Cotton Mather, I didn't go +with him. I ran away. Ay, a runaway sailor, that's what I am. I liked +the Spanish Main, and I didn't like Higginson; nor yet he didn't like +me, neither. But before he sailed, I left my mark on him, I did; four of +his teeth out and a black eye; and I won't say but what he broke my nose +for me too, right enough. For a Quaker, he hit pretty good. And I stole +this bit of writing from him; probably it ain't no account, but +Higginson he seemed to set great store by it, so I stole it, and here it +is." He took from his pocket a sheet of folded paper and laid it on the +table beside the map; it was much soiled, and was evidently very old. He +sniffed the air once or twice, and frowned. "I don't like this here +smell. It's no good. I say I don't like it. It makes me feel queer. +Well, I guess the old man thought this here bit of writing was safe in +his locker right up to the last; I expect he never missed it until he +went to put it into the bottle with the map and throw it overboard." He +shook the paper in his hand and dropped it again on the table. "And +then," he went on, "I fell in with Lingo, and joined his crew." + +"Look here," said Toby, "how long ago was all this?" + +"How do I know?" said Speak. "I've been shut up in that there cupboard +so long I ain't got no account of time. But I remember just before we +sailed from New Bedford there was a lot of crazy people talkin' about +getting up a fight with England and breakin' loose from her, and being +free and independent and what not--a great pack of foolish nonsense--and +something or other about some kind of a tea-party in Boston--I dunno. I +ain't never heard what come of it. Most likely nothin' at all. I guess +it must have been a good while ago. I dunno." + +The Churchwarden started, and put his hand to his back pocket. "Are you +as old as that?" said he. + +"No older nor what you be, old fat-chaps," said Speak. "You attend to +your own age, and I'll attend to mine." + +"Never mind," said the Third Vice-President, hastily. "Pray tell us how +you came to be locked up in that closet." + +"Gimme a chanc't," said Speak. "I'd tell you if you'd gimme a chanc't. I +joined Lingo. I served him true and faithful, and many a prize we've +taken together, and watched many a smart lad walk the plank, that's a +fact. Well, thirteen of his men laid a plan to go to his treasure-cave +where all his treasure was hid, and make off with it; steal it; ay, ay; +steal it, mind you; as bad as that. Now me, I ain't got no patience +with dishonesty; I'm all for being honest, I am; so, being as I had +learned about this here plan, I went and told the captain. He never +winked an eye, not him, but off he sent his other six men, out of the +way, and made a fine supper here for them thirteen and sat down with +them to it; ay, that he did. But first he gets a little white powder out +of a silver box and takes it to Mother Ketch and orders her to put it in +their food; and she won't, not she, and nothing he can do can make her; +so he comes to me, and being as I hates dishonesty, I puts the powder in +their food, and they eats it. Only, being kind of nervous, as you might +say, I spills about two-thirds of it on my way upstairs in the dark; and +there ain't enough left to do the work complete. What was left I put in +the food on the table, and at that minute up the stairs comes the whole +thirteen with the captain at their head, and I whips into that there +cupboard and shuts the door, a-trembling in my boots for fear of what +the captain's going to do to me when he finds out the powder won't work +only partly. I can hear 'em all set down to the table laughin' hearty, +and the captain's voice a-crackin' jokes and makin' 'em feel at home; +but after a bit I don't hear nobody's voice but only the captain's, +because of the white powder actin' on the others as far as it could, and +them probably a-settin' up stiff and tongue-tied in their chairs, unable +to move a hand, because of the mite of powder, d'ye see, and me +a-settin' quiet in the dark cupboard, a-quakin' all over and wonderin' +what the captain was a-goin' to do to me. And after a bit I don't hear +the captain's voice no more, and there ain't no sound at all. And I +guess the party is over. And in another minute I hears a key turn in the +lock of my cupboard door, very soft and easy, and there I am shut up and +locked in as tight as pitch; and there I've been ever since." + +"And serve you jolly well right, too, hif you arsk me," said Mr. Punch, +with great disgust. + +"It's the wickedest piece of business all round I ever heard of in my +life," said Aunt Amanda, indignantly. "It's my opinion you're as bad as +any of them." + +"Worse, if anything," said the Churchwarden, whose hand was still on his +back pocket. + +"It's a pity the captain didn't knife you in the back with the rest of +'em," said Toby, angrily. + +Speak's little eyes flashed fire. He drew his knife and held it out +threateningly in his hand, and started to rise. But he did not rise. He +remained fixed in his chair, though it was easy to see that he was +trying to get up. He sniffed the air, and his head remained fixed in the +act of sniffing. The hand which held the knife continued to hold it out, +without moving. A look of alarm came into his eyes. It was evident that +he had smelled the Odour of Sanctity, which yet lingered faintly in the +room. His outline began to waver; his face became vague; his features +ran together; he took on the appearance of vapor; and there in the chair +by the table, in place of the thick and solid sailorman, was an almost +transparent form of mist or smoke, remotely in the shape of a man. + +Everyone waited to see him vanish. The form still lingered; it did not +disappear; it continued to sit in its chair with its hand extended, +holding out a shadowy knife. The Odour of Sanctity had lost its full +power, and what remained of it was insufficient to make him disappear. + +The Churchwarden pulled out his bottle, and commenced to uncork it. + +"Stay," said the Third Vice-President, holding up his hand. "I pray you +stay. Do not spill any more of that deadly fluid. There has been enough +destruction here tonight. I propose that we leave the late Matthew Speak +as he is. He belongs to the Society for Piratical Research. He is the +Last of the Pirates, and I beg leave to claim him for the Society. As an +exhibit, he will be highly valued. We shall from time to time conduct +hither parties of the learned or the curious to view the Last of the +Pirates. Nothing could be better. Our Society is now revived. I am +immensely gratified. Low Dudgeon shall be known as the only Museum in +the world with but a single Exhibit. Let the late Matthew Speak repose +here in his chair as a permanent relic of a bygone age; the sole Exhibit +in a Museum all his own. The interest of such an Exhibit will doubtless +warrant a small charge at the door." + +The Committee murmured an earnest approval. The Churchwarden looked at +his companions, and put the bottle back into his pocket with a sigh. + +"I thank you," said the Third Vice-President. "We will now proceed to +consider our next step." + +"I simply can't stay in this room," exclaimed Aunt Amanda, "with that +thing sitting in that chair." + +"It is nothing, madam, I assure you," said the Third Vice-President. +"See!" + +He leaned over and passed his hand directly through the body in the +chair; in at the breast and out at the back. + +"Oh!" cried Aunt Amanda; and her friends all gasped; but the Committee +only nodded their heads in token of their interest. + +"You see it is nothing," said the Third Vice-President. "We will now +look at the paper which our departed friend has left." + +He picked up the paper from the table where Speak had left it, adjusted +his spectacles, turned his back to the candles so as to get a good +light, and read the paper through to himself. He then glanced at the +company and read aloud: + + "Shiraz the Rug-Merchant. + + "Outside the Gate of Wanderers, six hundred Paces to the Right, along + the Wall. + + "Thee shall know his Shop by certain Numbers, to wit: 3101310. + + "If he Hide himself, say these words: Shagli Jamshid Shahriman. + + "Thee shall buy of his Wares; not that which he shall offer First, nor + Second; but that which he shall offer Third, that thee shall Buy; and + for that thee shall Pay whatever he shall Demand. + + "Thereafter thee shall do whatever he shall Direct. + + "But enter not into the City but by the Shop of Shiraz the + Rug-Merchant." + +There was silence for a moment, then Aunt Amanda said: + +"That's the way we are to get those wonderful things the map speaks of. +It doesn't seem to tell us much, though. Where do you suppose is this +Gate of Wanderers?" + +"That, dear madam," said the Third Vice-President, "is one of the gates +of our City of Towers. We know it very well, of course." + +"Then," said Aunt Amanda, "as captain of my party, my orders is that we +go there at once." + +"Much good would that do," said Toby. "We've got to buy something of +this here Shiraz, if that's his name, and pay anything he asks, too. And +there ain't a penny amongst us. How could we buy anything?" + +"The pirates' treasure!" cried Freddie. "The pirates' treasure in the +cave!" + +"By crackey!" said Toby. "I clean forgot all about it. Good for you, +Freddie! Talk about money to buy things with! We'll buy out that old +Shiraz's whole shop! The treasure belongs to us, as sure as you're born. +By crickets, we're in luck." + +"If you will pardon me," said the Third Vice-President, "we know +nothing of any treasure, and if you would be so good as to----" + +"I will," said Aunt Amanda, and she quickly explained the whole matter. +The Daft Committee, including its Chairman, was much impressed. + +"We do not wish to intrude," said the Chairman, "but if we could be of +any service----" + +"Of course!" cried Toby. "You've got to help us get the treasure out of +the cave, and then help us to find the City of Towers. And if you'll +help us, why what I say is, the Committee ought to have a share of the +treasure. Is that right?" + +Toby's friends willingly agreed, and the Committee gladly consented to +go with them to the Treasure Cave and then to the City of Towers. + +"The Society for Piratical Research," said the Third Vice-President, "is +coming back to life! We now have a Museum with one Exhibit, and we are +about to acquire a Fund of Money. Come, my friends, it is time to +depart. If you will go out first, I will remain and blow out the +candles. We must remember to close the door behind us, for a draught of +air would probably blow the late Mr. Matthew Speak out of the window." + +In a few moments the whole party was standing in the moonlight on the +grass before the deserted tower of Low Dudgeon. Not quite deserted, +however; in every mind was a picture of a misty and vapory form, +remotely in the shape of a man, sitting motionless in a chair beside a +table in a dark and silent room. + +"All right," said Toby, "now for the Treasure Cave and the City of +Towers." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE CITY OF TOWERS + + +At the Pirates' Cave, the task of getting out the treasure proved very +difficult, but it was done at last. + +The Committee's camp in the forest had supplied abundance of provisions, +and a great number of animals; the Committee traveled in luxury. + +On the level ground where Mr. Hanlon had given his exhibition of +head-work, the toilers were now resting in the hot sun, and drying their +garments, thoroughly soaked by their trips in and out of the cave, under +the water-fall. They looked with intense delight on the boxes and bags +which lay before them. + +"What I say is," said Toby, "let's divide the treasure now, so we won't +have to bother about it when we get to the City of Towers." + +"How beautiful is nature!" said the Sly Old Codger. "Behold that wide +expanse of field and forest resting so--so--expansively beneath the orb +of day! A true, true work of nature! At such a moment as this, dear +friends, a warm feeling invades my heart, a feeling of--of--Did I hear a +suggestion to divide the treasure?" + +The division was carefully made, and when it was done, and each person +had declared himself well satisfied, each share was packed separately, +and the treasure loaded on the backs of the extra mules. It was a +princely fortune. + +"Do you suppose," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, "that--er--I +shall be able to obtain, in the City of Towers, such a thing as a +pipeful--ahem!--a pipeful of tobacco?" + +"Never fear," said the Third Vice-President. "I fancy you will be able +to buy there all the tobacco you can use." + +"Wery sorry I am to 'ear it," said Mr. Punch. "Hi regard the tobacco +'abit as a wery reprehensible 'abit. Wery." + +"Oh, you do!" said Toby, glaring at him. + +"Wery reprehensible indeed," went on Mr. Punch, calmly. "My conscience +'as troubled me for a long time by reason of my position in the tobacco +trade. Being posted, as one may s'y, in a wery hadwantageous position +for hobserwation, I 'ave seen too much, entirely too much, of the sad +effects of the hobnoxious weed. Many a time 'ave I wept to myself, when +the hobserver may 'ave thought it was only rain on me cheek, to see 'em, +young and hold, going in and hout of Toby Littleback's shop, knowing +what would come of it sooner or later, and me a-standing there +hencouraging of 'em in, as one may s'y, with me packet of cigars in me +'and. Hoften enough 'ave I wished to give it hup and embark in a +hoccupation less reprehensible; many a time 'ave I said to myself, 'Ho, +hif I could only be hinnocent once, just once.' And now Hi shall put +be'ind me hall the d'ys of me sinful past, and with my share of the +treasure Hi shall open a shop for the purveying of tripe." + +"There's a deal more harm been done by tripe than ever there was by +tobacco," said Toby. + +"There is a total absence of nicotine in tripe," said Mr. Punch, +loftily. "At least, such is my hinformation. And I carn't 'elp 'oping +that my friend Littleback will reform hisself, now that 'e can afford +it, and engage in some pursuit less 'armful to the young. Hif I was +arsked, I would suggest pinking and pleating." + +"You ain't been asked," said Toby. "I can see myself pinking and +pleating. When I want advice what to do with my money, I'll ask you. +Tobacco is my line, and tobacco is going to be my line to the end of the +chapter, and that's flat. Pinking and pleating! Humph." + +"It's my belief," said the Churchwarden, "after listening to what's been +said, pro and con, backwards and forwards, up and down, that if we don't +start for the City of Towers, we'll never get there." + +"And what's more," said Toby, "when I get back I'm going to have an +_Indian_ outside my door, instead of a tripe-seller." + +"Excuse me," said the Third Vice-President. "I am sorry to interrupt +this interesting discussion, but we really ought to be going. +Gentlemen," to the Committee, "our steeds are waiting. To the City of +Towers!" + +The journey which now commenced proved to be a very long one. Day after +day the pilgrims plodded through a wilderness of forest and field, over +streams, across mountains, down into deep valleys and up again, camping +at night wherever they happened to find water and wood, and sleeping +under the stars in blankets on beds of boughs. The moon was gone before +their journey was over. + +One morning the trail brought them down on a mountain-side to a +well-paved road. This road they followed for some hours, and it brought +them finally to the top of a gentle hill, covered with trees. From the +top of this hill they saw a striking scene. + +Stretching away from the foot of the hill lay a great rolling valley, up +which the road ran as straight as a ribbon. Far away, at the end of the +road, against a dark wooded mountain, stood a great city, walled around +with a high wall, and shining in the sun with white and gold domes and +turrets and towers. The rear of the city rose along the lower slope of +the mountain, and on the top of the mountain, concealing its peak, lay +a cloud; black below, and glittering with sunlight at the edges. It hung +there motionless during the time when the watchers sat watching the +scene. Directly under the cloud, on the slope where the farthest portion +of the city lay, was an open space among the buildings, like a great +garden or park, and in the midst of it a vast white building with a flat +roof, great enough for the palace of a king. That which struck the +strangers most, at their first look, was the great number of towers +which rose at all points in the city; surely so many towers had never +been gotten together in one place before; and the most remarkable one of +them was the tower which rose from just behind the great white building +in the park. It was dull in colour, and doubtless of brick; it was round +in shape, tapering gradually upwards. It rose to a height which none of +the strangers would have thought possible, had they not seen it with +their own eyes; it rose straight to the cloud which hung motionless upon +the mountain; it pierced the cloud, and its top was lost to view in the +cloud or above it. + +"The City of Towers!" said the Third Vice-President, waving his arm in +that direction. "The Gate of Wanderers is before us, at the end of the +road." + +The party urged their animals forward down the hill-side, and pressed on +until noon, when they halted for rest and refreshment in a wood beside +the road. There they sat at their ease on the grass, and the Third +Vice-President looked from one to another, and spoke as follows: + +"My friends, I must tell you the story of the Towers. Our King, you must +know, is a handsome and amiable man, in appearance about thirty years of +age. When I tell you that he has been our king for more than forty +years, you will be surprised. His wife was a princess of some few years +less than his own, and of a beauty unequalled in the kingdom. Her +wedding ring, the gift of her husband, was a single ruby in a plain gold +band, and this ring she was never known to remove from her +wedding-finger for a single moment. She was blessed with three beautiful +children, two boys and a girl, the oldest of whom was nearly nine years +of age. + +"When the prince, our present King, was thirty years old, his father the +King, who was then alive, gave a great ball at the palace, and at this +ball the old King declared to the assembled court that he desired to +build a tower; a mighty tower, higher than any other in the world, where +he might seek repose from time to time; a tower so tall that it would +reach the cloud that hangs perpetually on the mountain. To him who +should build such a tower in the shortest time the King would give any +reward which the fortunate bidder might ask. The old King laughed as he +made his offer, and it was plain that he was only half serious; but many +of the richest of his nobility desired the prize, and contended for it +earnestly. One proposed to erect the tower in ten years, another in +eight, and one was found who was willing to promise it in six years and +a half; but these terms were all too long. The King was old, and he +would not wait so long. + +"'Is there no one,' said the old King at last, 'who will build me my +tower in less than six years and a half?' + +"'I will build it in one night,' said a voice from the rear of the +ball-room. + +"An old man came forward and stood before the King; an old man, dressed +in a short gown tied in with a cord about the middle, with sandals on +his feet, a lantern with a lighted candle in one hand, and a staff in +the other. No one in that place had ever seen him before, and no one +knew how he had gotten in amongst that glittering company. + +"'I will build your tower in one night,' said the old man. + +"The old King laughed outright, but he accepted the offer then and +there. 'In the morning,' said he, 'if we find the tower finished, you +shall have any gift which may be in my power to give.' + +"The old man bowed, and made his way slowly out of the palace. A great +shout of laughter went up from the company, and in this the King himself +joined heartily; but the joke was, as I must tell you, my friends, that +in the morning when the King rose, there stood the tower in fact, behind +the palace, so tall that its top could not be seen in the cloud that +hung upon the mountain; and there, my friends, the tower stands to this +day. + +"That evening the old man returned for his reward. He stood before the +King, and on the King's right and left stood the prince and the prince's +wife and children. The King asked the old man what reward he desired. + +"'I ask nothing,' replied the other, with a sly smile, 'except the ruby +ring upon the finger of the Princess.' + +"The Princess turned pale, and hid her hand behind her. She would not +give up her wedding-ring; nothing the King could say could move her. He +offered the old man anything else he might demand; a dozen ruby rings; a +box of ruby rings; anything; but the old man would have nothing but the +ring upon the Princess's finger. The Princess grew paler still, as if +with fear; but she would not give up the ring. The old man smiled his +sly smile again, and went away. + +"The next morning the Princess and her three children were gone. Search +was made everywhere, but they were not to be found. The King and the +Prince, mounting the winding stair of the tower, stopped at last when +they were all but exhausted, and at that moment heard a sound of weeping +from above. They climbed higher, and on the stair they found the +children sitting, huddled together and weeping bitterly. Their mother +was gone, they knew not where; and they did not know how they came to be +in the tower. The strongest climbers in the city mounted as far as they +could ascend, but the top of the tower was far beyond their reach; they +found no Princess. She has never been seen from that day. + +"Soon after, the old King died, and his son came to the throne. As for +him, our present King, and his three children, time stopped for them +from the day on which the Princess disappeared. They are no older now +than when she left them. It is supposed that they are awaiting her +return unchanged, in order that she may not find them old on her return, +if she should still be young. There are those who say that she has lived +all these years, and still lives, somewhere, in some strange form, +perhaps far from here, bewitched by the old man, and waiting for release +from her enchantment. I do not know." + +"And what was her name?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"She was named," said the Third Vice-President, "the Princess Miranda." + +"And what are all those other towers in the city?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"It was the fashion, after the King's Tower was built, to build towers. +The King, as you may suppose, sets the fashion in all things. But no +more pleasure-towers are built nowadays; the thing had its day, and died +out. There is a fashion now in pleasure-domes. They are modeled after +the pleasure-dome built by Kubla Khan in Xanadu." + +"Well," said Toby, "I don't see what we've got to do with all this. The +party I want to see is Shiraz the Rug-Merchant." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SHIRAZ THE RUG-MERCHANT + + +The wayfarers came to a halt before the Wanderers' Gate. The wall of the +city stood before them, and stretched away to a great distance on either +hand. People were going in and out at the gate; some on foot, driving +donkeys before them, some on horseback, some in wagons, and all brisk +and talkative. The Third Vice-President received a respectful greeting +from several of those on horseback. He turned to his companions with a +wave of the hand, and said: + +"The Wanderers' Bazaar!" + +On each side of the open gate, at the foot of the high thick wall, was +what appeared to be a fair. As far as the eye could see, the base of the +wall was lined with booths, each with an awning over it from the wall +behind, gaily striped in orange and blue and yellow and brown. In these +booths was spread out in disorderly profusion a mass of merchandise of +all kinds; gold and silver ornaments, brass and copper vessels, rugs and +carpets, spectacles and clocks, toys and games, herbs and ointments, +fish-nets and sailors' instruments, canes and crutches, ribbons and +laces, perfumery, precious stones--things innumerable; even parrots and +monkeys, in cages; in one booth was a potter, twirling his potter's +wheel; in another a fortune-teller, laying little sticks down in curious +patterns on his table; in another a man pasting on cards bits of +coloured feathers, in the form of tiny birds and fowls, most life-like; +in another a glass-blower, delicately twining a thread of spun glass for +the rigging of a ship; in another a man sitting on a rug with a snake +before him, whose flat head stood stiffly up from his coil, and waved a +little to the motion of his master's finger; in another, a man was +bending over a flower-pot with a wand in his hand, and as he moved the +wand a stalk grew from the pot and at its end a bud appeared and +unfolded into a flower before the very eyes of his audience; in another +a great ape was marking down figures with chalk as his master called +them; in another a shuttle was weaving back and forth in a loom; there +seemed to be no end to the curious and diverting things to be seen in +those booths. The people in them were apparently of all the nations of +the earth; there were brown men and yellow men and black men, as well as +white; men with slant eyes, with round eyes, with flat noses, with +beak-noses, with wooly hair, with straight hair; there were turbans, and +fezzes, and hoods, and white gowns, and coloured robes, and velvet +jackets, and cotton blouses; and from all the venders rose such a hubbub +as Freddie had never in his life heard before, except once in the Gaunt +Street Theatre at home. A lively crowd chaffered with the venders and +walked in the paved street before their booths. It was a scene full of +life and colour, and Freddie was transported with delight. + +"Oh!" he said, "can't we get down here and see all those sights? I +should like to spend the whole day here!" + +"We've got other fish to fry just now, Freddie," said Toby. "We'll have +to see this some other time." + +"It is a precious thought," said the Sly Old Fox, "that we have here +with us on our mules enough treasure to buy this whole bazaar, if we +wished to do it. It is a beautiful thought." + +"Six 'undred paces to the right!" said Mr. Punch. + +"Shiraz the Rug-Merchant!" said Toby. "By the looks of it, there must be +about five hundred rug-merchants along there." + +"What was the number we were to find him by?" said Aunt Amanda. + +"It's 3103101," said Toby. + +"You are quite mistaken," said Mr. Punch. "Hit's 3013101." + +"That's exactly what I said," said Toby. + +"Excuse me," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, "it seems to me +that it is--er--3101301." + +"My recollection is," said the Churchwarden, "that it is 3031010." + +"I am sorry to differ," said the Sly Old Codger, "but I am perfectly +sure it is 3013010." + +"Why don't you look at the paper?" said Aunt Amanda, in an exasperated +tone. + +Everyone looked at everyone else to produce the paper, but no one +produced it. + +"I regret to confess it," said the Third Vice-President, placidly, "but +I have a distinct recollection of having left it on the table at Low +Dudgeon. Never mind, it is perfectly safe." + +"Well!" said Aunt Amanda. "Isn't that a perfect shame! Whatever are we +going to do? And where's the map? Freddie, have you got the map?" + +Freddie looked in all his pockets. "No'm," said he. "It isn't here." + +"I recall distinctly," said the Third Vice-President, without any sign +of worry, "that the map was left on the table at Low Dudgeon with the +other paper." + +"Merciful fathers!" exclaimed Aunt Amanda. "And you've left the map +behind too! I never yet see a man that had a head on him worth a--Now +listen to me; is there anyone that remembers the words the paper said we +had to say to the----" + +"Ah! madam," said the Third Vice-President. "There I can be of +assistance, I fancy. The words are derived from the Persian, and I am +accordingly familiar with them. 'Shagli Jamshid Shahriman.' Am I right, +gentlemen?" + +The Daft Committee nodded their heads in assent. + +"Then I see no reason," said the Third Vice-President, "why we should +not proceed." + +"Come on then," said Toby. "I'll get down and pace off the six hundred +steps, and see where we come to." + +The party moved slowly through the crowd, along the booths, while Toby +walked beside them, carefully counting his steps. + +"Five hundred and eighty," said he. "Five hundred and ninety. +Ninety-five. Six hundred"; and stopped. The procession stopped also, and +all of the riders got down from their mules. Many of the passers-by +gazed curiously at them, and some paused for a moment before going on; +but no one seemed to take more than a passing interest. One of the +Committee led the mules to the open side of the street, where they would +be out of the way, and stood guard over them. The others joined Toby in +front of the booth at which he was now standing. + +It was not the kind of booth they were seeking at all. There were no +rugs nor carpets of any kind; only clocks and watches, a great number of +them, and a few sundials and hour-glasses. Behind the counter stood a +lad of about twenty, very dark of skin, with snapping black eyes and +shining white teeth which showed as he now bowed and smiled; a white +turban on his head, and a loose white robe hanging from his shoulders. +He was slim and sleek, and his fingers were very long and delicate. He +rubbed his hands together as the riders dismounted, and commenced to +chatter to them in an unknown tongue, bowing and smiling the while. His +wares were displayed about him on shelves and boxes and tables, as well +as on the counter, and the clocks and watches, as usual in such places, +showed all hours of the twelve. A striped awning of orange and blue, +fastened at the rear to the side of the city wall, shielded him and his +booth from the sun. Behind him in the wall was a closed iron door. + +"We're in the wrong shop," said Toby to his companions. "Some mistake. +Anyway, here goes." And addressing the young man behind the counter, he +said: "Good-afternoon. We are looking for Mr. Shiraz the Rug-Merchant. +This don't look much like a rug shop, but maybe you can tell us. Shiraz; +that's his name." + +"No understand," said the young man, rubbing his hands and bowing +pleasantly. + +"Shiraz," said Toby. "Think. Shiraz. Easy word, Shiraz. You understand?" + +"Clocks and watches," said the young man. "Sundials. You buy?" + +"No, no," said Toby. "We no buy. Want Shiraz. Confound it, that's an +easy word, ain't it? Shiraz! Can't you understand that?" + +"No sell Shiraz," said the young man. "Clocks and watches." + +"Look here," said Toby, "what's the number of this place?" + +"No number," said the young man, looking puzzled and shaking his head. +"Clocks and watches." + +"By crackey," said Toby, "we're in the wrong place sure enough." + +Now while this talk was going on, Freddie had made a discovery. He had +noticed, on a box at the rear, against the wall, a row of seven old +clocks. They were battered and broken, and were evidently long since out +of repair; two of them had no hands. Like most of the clocks in the +place, they were stopped, and had probably, from the looks of them, +ceased many years before to keep time. He noted idly the time shown by +each of these clocks, and started in surprise. The hour shown by the +first clock at the left was three o'clock. That shown by the next was +one o'clock. The next had no hands, and showed no time at all. The next +showed one o'clock, the next three o'clock, the next one o'clock, and +the seventh had no hands. He ran his eye over them again, and the +numbers which resulted were 3101310. + +"Come along," said Toby. "We might as well ask at some of these other +shops. There ain't no use wasting time here." + +He moved away, and the others followed him towards the adjoining booth. +The teeth of the dark young man shone white, and he bowed politely to +the departing strangers. + +Freddie pulled at Toby's coat, and whispered in his ear. Toby listened, +and without a word led the party back to the booth. + +"Now see here, young feller," said he, "I've got your number, and I +don't want no nonsense. I reckon you can understand numbers, if you +can't understand anything else." He fixed his eyes on the row of old +clocks at the rear. "Listen to this, my young friend: 3-1-0-1-3-1-0." + +The smile left the young man's face. He seemed a trifle uneasy. His long +fingers rested on the counter, and he leaned forward intently. + +"No understand," said he. + +"By crackey," said Toby, "this beats all. Where's Shiraz? We're in the +right place, and we want Shiraz. Out with him!" + +"Clocks and watches," said the young man, but this time somewhat +nervously. "You buy?" + +"Buy nothing!" cried Toby. "We want to see Shiraz the Rug-Merchant. +Professor," said he, turning round, "what's the words to bring out +Shiraz the Rug-Merchant?" + +"Shagli Jamshid Shahriman!" said the Third Vice-President, in a loud +voice. + +Instantly the manner of the young man changed. Crossing his arms upon +his breast, he made a low salaam, and spoke with the utmost deference. + +"I trust you will pardon," said he, "my seeming lack of courtesy. It is +necessary to exercise a certain caution. There are wicked spirits, +assuming from time to time the most unlikely forms, who seek to gain +access to my great-great-grandfather. His life is continually in danger, +for he possesses secrets which enable him constantly to interfere with +their designs. By reason of this danger, he was obliged many years ago +to retire from the rug business, and he has lived ever since in deep +seclusion. It is your wish to see Shiraz the Persian?" + +"You seem to speak English pretty good," said Toby. + +"Perfectly, my lord. And twelve other tongues as well. You desire to see +my great-great-grandfather?" + +"That's the exact idea," said Toby. + +"Then I will beg your indulgence for a few moments." + +The young man bowed again, and disappeared through the doorway in the +wall, closing the door behind him. After a considerable absence he +returned. + +"If you will follow me," said he, "I will conduct you to my +great-great-grandfather." + +"We will await your return here," said the Third Vice-President to Toby +and his companions. "It is unnecessary for us to pursue this adventure +further." + +The Third Vice-President and his friends returned to the mules, and the +others followed the young man to the door behind him in the wall. The +door was closed and locked behind them, and they found themselves in +darkness. "If you will come to me here," said the voice of the young +man, a little in advance, "I will show you the way down." When they felt +themselves near him, they heard his voice again. "Be good enough to step +carefully forward, until you feel the first step of a descending stair. +Then descend cautiously, if you please." Each one put out a foot, and in +a moment they were all going down a stairway, of which the treads were +evidently of stone, much worn. + +When they had gone down some thirty steps, they were aware that the +stair had ended, and that they were on a landing. "You will now cross +the bridge, one by one, holding on to the railing," said the voice of +the young man. One by one the party stepped forward, feeling the way +cautiously, and as each in turn found with his hand a slight wooden +railing, a breath of fresh air blew upon his face and the sound of +rushing water came from below. Instead of the firm stone they had just +been treading, they were conscious of wooden planking under their feet, +and it gave beneath their pressure most uneasily. The bridge was a long +one, and the sound of rushing water followed them its entire length. +They walked again, however, on firm ground, and heard the young man's +voice before them. "Be good enough to follow the right hand wall," it +said, "and turn with the wall." + +Each right hand touched the surface of a wall, and in a moment the wall +made a turning to the right. In another moment their progress was barred +by a wall in advance, and the voice of the young man spoke from their +midst. "You will kindly stoop as you go in," said he, and at the same +moment a round opening appeared before them, dimly lit from within. It +was only large enough to admit a single person, stooping. The young man +entered first, and the others followed, one by one. When they were all +on the other side of the door, the young man swung it noiselessly to, +on its hinges, and it was seen that it fitted accurately, so that it was +impossible to distinguish it from the wall. + +They were in a small room, unfurnished except for a table in the center, +on which burned an oil lamp of silver, in shape like a boat; the walls +were bare, except for certain shelves containing bottles of coloured +liquids, other bottles of coloured powders, mortars, retorts, +gas-burners, and huge dusty books. There appeared to be no outlet from +the room, but the young man pressed his finger on a spot behind one of +the bottles on a shelf, and a circular door, like the one by which they +had entered, swung slowly open in the opposite wall. + +"We have arrived," said the young man. "Please to follow." + +He stooped and entered the circular doorway, and the others, one by one, +followed. They found themselves in a rich and luxurious apartment, +softly lighted by a hanging lamp; in the center was a table, littered +with open books and scrolls of paper, and bearing notably a great round +globe of solid crystal. + +Beside the table, on a divan, reclined what appeared to be a dry and +shriveled mummy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SIX ENCHANTED SOULS + + +"This is my great-great-grandfather," said the young man. + +The room in which they stood was hung about on all the walls with rare +and beautiful rugs, and similar rugs covered the floor. Richly +embroidered cushions and delicate silk and cashmere shawls lay on the +few easy chairs that were disposed about the room. The bowl of the +hanging lamp, above the table, was of bits of amber and orange and ruby +glass, through which shone a subdued and mellow light. Near the ceiling +were three or four small openings, covered with iron gratings, and the +air in the apartment was pure, except for the odour of tobacco. The +figure on the divan was smoking a pipe; a water-pipe, whose long +flexible stem reached to the floor, where its bowl rested. + +Shiraz the Rug-Merchant looked at his visitors with little beady black +eyes. His skin was very dark, and shriveled and wrinkled like the skin +of a dried apple. His cheek-bones seemed as if about to break through +his cheeks, and his lips were stretched back from his teeth, which were +black and broken. His hands were like the claws of a bird. Thin white +hair straggled over his tight dark scalp. He wore a robe of some soft +material, harmoniously mottled upon a ground of maroon, and on his feet +were slippers of red morocco, pointed upwards at the toes. His turban +lay upon the table beside him. + +[Illustration: Shiraz the Rug-Merchant looked at his visitors with +little beady black eyes.] + +He was the smallest man the strangers had ever seen. After a searching +look at them with his beady eyes, he rose from the divan, laid down the +stem of his pipe, and stood up. He was not taller than Freddie. As he +stood by the divan, looking up at his visitors, he seemed indeed a mere +mummy of a man, likely to fall to pieces at a breath of air. + +"You are welcome," he said, in a voice surprisingly strong. "I perceive +that you have come from a great distance. Permit me to inquire what +errand has brought you to your servant's poor habitation." + +"I reckon we want to buy something," said Toby. "I don't know what, +exactly, but a chap by the name of Higginson, Captain Reuben Higginson, +he give us the direction, as you might say." + +"Ah, yes," said Shiraz the Persian. "I remember him very well. I was +sorry to learn of his misfortune. An excellent man; a member of some +strange sect----" + +"A Quaker," said Toby. "The paper he left said we might buy something +here, and here we are, ready to buy." + +"I have long since retired from the rug business," said Shiraz, "but I +have brought with me here, as you may see, some of my choicest +treasures, as a slight solace in my seclusion." He glanced towards the +rugs on the walls. "I am reluctant to part with any of them, but I am +willing to make an exception, in view of your having made so long a +journey to see me. My son," said he to the young man, "bring hither the +Omar prayer-rug." + +The young man took from one of the walls a small rug, and laid it at the +feet of Shiraz. + +"You will immediately perceive," said the Persian, "the extreme beauty +of this rug. It is one of my rarest treasures. It is a prayer-rug from +the mosque of Omar at Isfahan; a Kalicheh of cut-pile fabric, with the +Sehna knot, as I need not tell you; made in Kurdistan three hundred +years ago; observe, if you please, the delicacy of the design and the +harmony of the colouring. Its possession is as a spring of water to the +desert Bedouin; as a palm with dates on the road to Mecca; as a word to +the believer from the mouth of the Prophet. Its price, to those who have +journeyed across the sea to buy it, is twelve copper pennies." + +The Sly Old Fox stooped down and examined it. His eyes lit up with +pleasure. "Beautiful!" said he. "I have never seen a rug more beautiful; +it is a real work of--of--I will take it. At twelve pennies. It is +mine." + +"No, no!" said Aunt Amanda. "You'll do nothing of the kind. It is +certainly the finest piece of carpet I have ever seen, and the price is +low enough, in all conscience. But we are not going to buy it. I am +sorry, sir, but we can't buy your rug. Show us something else." + +Shiraz displayed his teeth more plainly than ever in a sly smile. + +"Your servant is desolated," he replied. "I crave your pardon for +showing a trifle so far beneath your notice. My son, take it away. If +your excellencies will deign to overlook my error, I will produce an +article more worthy of your attention. This time I promise myself the +ecstasy of your approval." + +"Pretty good line of talk," whispered Toby in Mr. Punch's ear. + +"My son," continued Shiraz, "bring hither the Wishing Rug." + +The young man took away the prayer-rug, and brought another from the +wall; a much larger one, large enough, indeed, for twenty people to +stand on. It was dingy and frayed, and in no way beautiful like the +other. + +"A rug of the Tomb of Rustam," said Shiraz, "gained by the hero in +battle from the genie Akhnavid. It is the last of the Wishing Rugs. Its +property is, that it will transport to the farthest regions of the +earth, in the twinkling of an eye, those who sit upon it and but name +aloud the place of their desire. Excellencies," he said, addressing his +visitors very earnestly, "if it is your wish to return home, the moment +has arrived; you have only to sit upon this rug and wish yourselves at +home, and you will find yourselves there, safe and sound, before the +words shall have well left your lips. And the price is only twenty +pennies." + +Every one of the party hesitated. A vision of the Old Tobacco Shop +entered each mind. It had never seemed so cozy, so quiet, so secure as +at that moment. How or when they would ever get there, in the natural +course of events, no one knew. If they did not seize this opportunity, +they might be lost forever. It was a chance such as they could scarcely +have hoped for. + +"Could we take our belongings with us?" said the Sly Old Fox. + +"All that can be piled on the rug," said Shiraz. + +"Then I will buy it," said the Sly Old Codger. "I do not consider twenty +pennies too much for such a rug. The rug is mine." + +"It's nothing of the sort," said Aunt Amanda, waking from deep thought. +"Nobody's going to buy the rug. I'm captain of this expedition, and my +orders is, to wait and see what's going to happen next. I'm sorry, sir, +but the rug ain't exactly what we want. You must show us something +else." + +The Rug-Merchant appeared greatly mortified. "I do not know how I could +have made such a mistake," he said. "I should have known that these +little trifles could not interest you. I trust you will believe that I +meant no offense. I fear there is nothing in my poor collection which +merits your notice. Permit me to wish you a safe journey. Do you intend +to remain long in the City of Towers?" + +"That won't do," said Toby. "You must show us something else." + +The Rug-Merchant looked intently at Aunt Amanda. "You command it?" said +he. + +"I do," said she. + +"To hear is to obey," said Shiraz. "I tremble to think how contemptible +are the baubles I shall now offer you, but I trust you will not be angry +with your servant." He turned to the young man, and spoke to him in an +unknown tongue. "Be not offended, excellencies," he went on, "by your +poor servant's ignorance in the art of pleasing." + +The young man disappeared behind one of the hanging rugs, and in a +moment returned with certain small objects, which he stood upon the +table in a row. They were eight hour-glasses, of a very ordinary kind, +much like those already seen in the booth outside. The sand in each one +was wholly in the upper glass, and was just beginning to trickle down +into the lower. The strangers were obviously disappointed. + +"I fear your displeasure," said Shiraz, "but apart from my trifling +rugs, these are all I have to offer." + +"And what," said the Sly Old Fox, "what may be the price of these +interesting objects?" + +"The price," said Shiraz, fixing his beady eyes on Aunt Amanda, "the +price is this and nothing less: your treasure on the mules outside; your +share of the treasure on the mules." + +Everyone gasped. The treasure which they had gone through so many perils +to secure, for these indifferent trinkets! A life of ease and plenty for +an hour-glass! + +"Ahem!" said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg. "Excuse me for saying +it, but the--er--price appears to be a little bit high." + +"It is too high for me," said the Sly Old Fox, positively. "I regret to +say it, but I am compelled to withdraw; I cannot go on at such a +figure. Please consider me out of it." + +"And--er--me too," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg. + +"Well," said Toby, doubtfully, "it's a blamed hard thing to give up all +that treasure for one of these here little toys. I don't see my way +clear to doing it. What do you say, Aunt Amanda?" + +"I'll do it," said Aunt Amanda, looking at Shiraz, whose eyes were still +on her. "I've come all this way to do it, and I'll do it. I ain't going +to back out now at the last minute. My mind's made up. Mr. Shiraz, I'll +buy an hour-glass." + +"By crackey," said Toby, "then I will too. What about you, Freddie?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed," said Freddie. + +"Hi'll 'ave one myself," said Mr. Punch. + +"After due consideration," said the Churchwarden, "I think I will buy +one also." + +Mr. Hanlon nodded a vigorous assent. + +The two Old Codgers, however, were firm in their refusal. They could not +be persuaded. They retired from the enterprise then and there. + +Under the conduct of the young man, the two Old Codgers left the room, +and returned to the Committee who were waiting with the mules outside; +and with them went Toby and Mr. Punch and Mr. Hanlon, to bring back that +portion of the treasure which was to pay for the six hour-glasses. + +This was a work of much difficulty, and occupied a great deal of time. +While it was going on, the Rug-Merchant, having first asked permission, +reclined again on the divan and resumed his pipe, while Aunt Amanda, +Freddie, and the Churchwarden seated themselves, at his invitation, and +watched him in silence. + +The treasure was at length piled, complete, in a corner of the room. +Toby, Mr. Punch, and Mr. Hanlon returned for the last time, and without +the great-great-grandson of the Rug-Merchant. + +"The others will wait outside for an hour," said Toby. "If we don't come +back by that time, they'll go on into the city without us." + +Shiraz the Rug-Merchant laid down the stem of his pipe, and rising bowed +to Aunt Amanda with great deference. + +"Permit me, most gracious lady," said he, "to see the fingers of your +left hand." + +He took in his own right hand the third finger of Aunt Amanda's left, +and bent his eyes close over it. He straightened himself up with a long +breath, and crossing his arms upon his breast, made a low salaam. + +"It is as I thought," said he. "The mark is here, on the third finger of +the left hand. Highness," said he, bowing lower, "I pray you accept your +servant's salutation on your return." And raising her hand to his lips, +he kissed it in a very courtly manner. + +"Goodness alive!" said Aunt Amanda, turning as red as a rose, "you make +me feel too foolish for anything." + +"You have been away a long time," said Shiraz, "but you have returned. +Happy am I to be the first to greet you on your return. You and the +others have all been enchanted. You are six enchanted souls, and in your +present shapes not one of you is himself. I suppose you do not know that +you are enchanted; you think that you are yourselves; is it not so? I +assure you it is a mistake; but I can put you in the way of correcting +your errors, and restoring yourselves to your true shapes, if you desire +it. Madam," said he, bowing again to Aunt Amanda, "I await your +commands." + +"I reckon we all want to be corrected," said Aunt Amanda. "It's what +we've come here for. We've come a long way to this island, and for +nothing on earth but to be corrected, if there's any way to do it. If +you can do it, go ahead." + +"Hearing is obedience," said Shiraz. "Please to take the hour-glasses." + +Each one took up an hour-glass from the table and held it in his hand. + +"It is necessary," said Shiraz, "to destroy the sands in the glasses. If +they can be destroyed, the enchantment will be over. There is no power +on earth which can destroy the sands but one, and that is the White Fire +of the Preserver. Will you risk the fire?" + +"I will," said Aunt Amanda, now somewhat pale; and the others nodded +assent. + +"Then I will give you the White Robes," said Shiraz. "Without them you +can not withstand the Fire." + +He went to a wall and drew from behind the hangings a box, which he +opened on the table. From this box he took six white linen gowns, and at +his direction each put on one of the gowns. Freddie's was much too long, +and he was obliged to hold it up. + +"Well," said Toby, "I always did look ridiculous in a night-gown, but +this beats--" + +"Peace," said Shiraz. "The Fire will not harm you now. Two things only +are necessary: to fear nothing, and to hold tight to the hour-glasses." + +With these words he clapped his hands, and from behind the hangings on +the rear wall stepped a black man, clad in a robe similar to the others. +To this man the Persian spoke in some strange tongue, and the man bowed. + +"Now," said Shiraz, "you will follow my servant. Farewell, and peace be +with you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FROM THE FIRE BACK TO THE FRYING PAN + + +The white-robed figures, having left the room by a small circular door +behind the hangings, followed the black servant along a pitch-dark +passage, and in a few moments came to a bridge, similar to the one they +had crossed before. As they felt their way over it cautiously one by +one, the sound of rushing water came to them from below, and a cold +breeze fanned their cheeks. A little further on they touched the first +step of a stair, and began to ascend its worn stone treads. They mounted +some thirty steps, and touching the wall with their hands, moved onward +along a passage. This passage made an abrupt turn to the left, and when +they had cleared the corner they saw in its sides before them a gleam of +light here and there. + +"The Master's work-rooms," said the black servant. "Please to follow." + +They passed now and then beneath a lighted window, too high to be seen +through, and at the end of the passage the servant paused before a +closed iron door. He opened this door with a key, and led them forth. + +Before them was a garden, the most beautiful that any of them had ever +seen. High over it was a dome of pale green and amber glass, through +which the sunlight streamed in mild and parti-coloured rays. The walls +which supported the dome were so high that it was impossible to see +beyond. In the center was a fountain, dropping in a sparkling shower +into a marble basin; around it spread a well-ordered carpet of flowers, +of all the colours, as it seemed, of the rainbow; along the walls were +cocoa palms, banana trees, and the feathery bamboo; white cockatoos +sailed across from palm to palm; the air was heavy with a warm odour of +moist earth and blossoms. The whole party drew a deep breath of +pleasure. The dark place from which they had come seemed to fade away +like a dream before the soft beauty of the garden. + +The servant led them to the opposite side, and unlocked a door in the +wall, making way for them to pass in before him. They entered, and heard +the door locked behind them; the servant was no longer with them; they +were alone in a small square room, of stone walls and an earthen floor; +there was no opening, but in the opposite wall was a closed door. A pale +light pervaded the place, from what source they could not discover. In +the earthen floor from wall to wall grew a thicket of stiff stalks, +higher than Freddie's head, and clustered closely around each stalk from +bottom to top were flowers of a waxen whiteness. + +"It seems a real pity," said Aunt Amanda, "to break those pretty plants, +but I reckon we've got to wade into them. I'm mighty curious to see +what's on the other side of that door. Probably the fire the old man was +talking about. Oh, dear, I don't like fire. But we've got to get to that +door, so come along." + +The whole party moved in a body into the thicket of waxen stalks. + +As they stepped in, the stalks broke around them with sharp reports. +They moved on again, and the reports, as the stalks broke, became louder +and louder; and now each one felt the hour-glass in his hand being +tugged at, and found that wherever his hand touched a flower, the petals +flattened themselves on the hand and the glass, and clung so tight that +it took a hard jerk to get them loose. There was danger of losing the +glasses, and with one accord they held the glasses high above their +heads. The moment they did so, the conduct of the stalks became +terrifying indeed. + +As if in anger, the broken stalks spouted forth, with a hiss and a rush, +blinding jets of liquid white fire, which tore at the ceiling angrily +and roared and crackled. From the broken stalks it spread to the others, +and in a moment jets of liquid white fire were blazing and crackling +upward from all the stalks in the room, and the terrified captives were +in the very midst of it. + +It ran up their robes and showered on them from the ceiling; it became +denser and angrier; it was all but unbearable, though they felt it in +only a tiny fraction of its real strength; in another instant the frail +white gowns must surely be consumed. But in some strange way the gowns +shed off the liquid fire, and remained unscorched. + +For a moment the sufferers were stupefied. They were unable to move. +Freddie tried to scream, but he could make no sound; he almost fainted +away; but he felt, through it all, the sturdy arm of Mr. Toby tight +about him. + +They pushed on in a close body and passed the center of the room; the +white glare became more blinding, the roar and crackle more deafening; +they were surrounded, cut off, in the midst of destruction; they were +bewildered; they stopped again; there was no use in going back; they +must get forward through the furnace at any cost; they made a new start; +and in a frenzy of terror, their hands before their eyes, with a rush +they gained the door. They crowded against it; they pushed and beat upon +it; it gave way before them; they rushed through, and it closed behind +them of its own accord. + +They were standing in broad daylight on the sidewalk of a city street, +under a high blank wall, with shops on the opposite side; each with an +hour-glass, empty of sand, in his right hand, and each clad only in a +long white night-gown. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DISENCHANTMENT COMPLETE + + +They looked behind them. A high stone wall rose at their backs, and in +it was no sign of a door. + +They looked across the street. It was a narrow street, paved with +cobble-stones; on the opposite side, where a row of little low shops +stretched away on either hand, a few people were going in and out at the +doors, and a few others were walking at some distance, before the +shop-windows. An ox-cart was coming slowly down the street. + +Freddie had sometimes dreamed of being out among people in broad +daylight in his night-gown, and he now felt the same terror he had felt +in those dreams; he looked anxiously at the shops for a place in which +to hide. No one appeared to observe them yet, but they would soon be +seen, and it would be dreadful, unless they could find shelter without a +moment's delay. + +"We had better run into one of those shops," said he, breathlessly, "and +ask them to hide us until we can get some clothes." + +"Ah, no," said a soft voice beside him, at his right. "It is not a shop +that I must go to now. I must hurry home." + +Freddie looked around at his right for Aunt Amanda. There was no Aunt +Amanda. In her place, holding an empty hour-glass in her right hand, was +a lady, the fairest whom Freddie had ever seen. She was young; her eyes +were of the blue of summer skies; her hair was golden yellow; on her +soft white cheek was a tinge of pink; two heavy braids of hair hung +almost to her knees; her eyes were sparkling with happiness, and a +tender and wistful smile curved her lips. As Freddie gazed at her, he +thought that there could not be in the world another so radiantly +beautiful. She looked about her as one who sees familiar things after a +long absence. + +Freddie's eyes fell to the hand which was nearest him, her left. On the +third finger of her left hand was a ruby ring. + +"Are you," he faltered, "are you--Aunt Amanda?" + +"I think," she said, smiling on him, "I think I was, once. I think I can +remember that name. And you are--let me see; what was your name? Ah, +yes, your name was Freddie. But we must hurry; we must not keep them +waiting." + +Freddie turned, and saw beside him four strange men, all gazing at the +beautiful lady in amazement. In the right hand of each was an empty +hour-glass. + +Freddie looked down on the two men who stood nearest him; he looked +_down_ on them; he was suddenly aware that he was not looking up. They +were short, for full-grown men, and of precisely the same height; their +faces were square, their cheek-bones prominent, and their noses hooked; +the head of one was bald, and the hair of the other's head lay flat down +on his forehead where it curved back like a hairpin; except for their +heads, they were in all respects twins. There was no hump on the back of +either of them. + +"Mr. Punch and Mr. Toby!" said Freddie. + +"The wery same," said the bald-headed one. + +"That's me," said the other. + +Behind Mr. Toby stood a lean man in spectacles. His night-gown hung upon +him very loosely, and he was very spare indeed. His smooth-shaven cheeks +were somewhat hollow; his eyes behind his glasses were deep and solemn; +his frame was the frame of one who subdues the flesh by fasting; +snow-white hair, curling inward at the back of his neck, made a kind of +aureole around his thin face; he looked for all the world as he stood +barefoot in his long white gown, like one of those saints you see in +painted glass windows in a church. + +"Is it," said Freddie, hesitating, "is it--the Churchwarden?" + +"I have reason to believe," said the saintly looking man, "that I have +been known by that name. But I am in reality, and always have been, in +reality, something far more lowly than a churchwarden; I am, and always +have been, at heart, a meek and humble follower of the holy Thomas à +Kempis, whose life of serene and cloistered sanctity I have always +wished to imitate. Now that I am myself, it is my ambition to be known, +if it is not too presumptuous to say so, as Thomas the Inferior. Pax +vobiscum." + +"I ain't got the least idea what that means," said Toby, "but anyway +it's the Churchwarden's voice, whether he calls himself Thomas the +Inferior or Daniel the Deleterious. You're heartily welcome, Warden, and +I hope you won't mind my saying that a good meal wouldn't do you any +harm, from the looks of you. I'm pretty near starved to death myself. +Mr. Punch, we've got rid of our humps, as sure as you're born. We're as +straight in our bodies as we've always been in our minds, and that's as +straight as a string. By crackey, I never felt so fine in my life; +blamed if I couldn't lick my weight in wildcats." + +"Hi 'ave no wish to do so," said Mr. Punch. "Hi do not desire to engage +in any conflict whatever; Hi should regard such conduct as wery +reprehensible; wery. But one cannot but admit, harfter one's back 'as +been so long out of correct proportion, as one may s'y, that one enjoys +a wery pronounced satisfaction when one feels one's self restored to +one's rightful position as a hupright person, in common with one's +fellow--" + +"What about Mr. Hanlon?" said Toby, turning around. + +"Michael Hanlon, prisent!" said a cheerful voice. + +Behind the Inferior Thomas stood a tall and handsome man, the picture of +an athlete in the prime of condition. Short curling black hair clustered +on his head; his eyes were of a humorous dark blue; his cheeks were like +red apples; his shoulders were muscular, his back was straight, his +figure slim; and he wore his night-gown as a Greek runner in ancient +times might have worn his robe after the games. + +"What!" said Freddie. "Can you talk?" + +"Faith," said Mr. Hanlon, "I've a tongue in me head that can wag with +anny that iver come off the blarney stone, and it's no lies I'm tellin' +ye. For an Irish gintleman to have to listen and listen, and kape his +tongue still in his head and say niver a worrd at all, at all, 'tis a +hard life, me frinds, a hard life, and it's plaised I am to be mesilf at +last, and the nate bit of tongue doin' his duty like a thrue son of +Erin--I could tell ye a swate little shtory that comes to me mind, of a +dumb Irishman that could not spake at all, at all, and the deaf wife of +him that could not hear, and their twelve pigs all lyin' down in the mud +with wan of thim standing up and crying out that the wolf was comin' in +through the gate, and the good wife unable to hear and the good man +unable to spake--" + +"I reckon you've got your tongue, all right," said Toby. "I wish we had +time to hear that story, but we haven't. Now, Freddie, what do you think +we'd better--Why, Freddie! What's that you've got on your lip?" + +Freddie put his hand to his upper lip. What he felt there was a tiny +silken mustache. He blushed. + +"And 'e's taller than any of us except Mr. 'Anlon!" exclaimed Mr. Punch. +"My word!" + +Freddie looked down at Mr. Punch, and realized his own height. He looked +at his hands, and they were almost as large as Mr. Hanlon's. His +night-gown came to his ankles, and he realized that he was no longer +holding it up. + +"Why," he said, "I must be grown up!" + +"Grown up is the word," said Toby, "but I'd 'a' known you anywhere. +Twenty-one years old, I should say." + +"Twenty-two," said Mr. Punch. + +Everyone now fell silent. The young and lovely lady, who had said +nothing during their talk, was smiling from one to another. She seemed +to feel no embarrassment nor concern, nor anything indeed but happiness. +She looked at Toby with a smile, and all the men looked at her. + +"Do you know me?" she said to Toby. + +"You are changed," said he, "that's a fact. But I always knew that Aunt +Amanda was like that, down deep inside of her. If she could only have +looked like what she was, that's the way she would have looked, and I +always knew it. I'm glad you've come to look like yourself at last." + +"Ah!" said the beautiful lady. "I am glad you don't feel that I am +strange to you. I know you all now, better than I have ever known you. +You have been with me a long while, under disguise. I don't seem to +remember very well what your disguises were, for I seem to have known +you always as you are: my loyal knight," (turning to Freddie), "my +body-guard," (turning to Mr. Toby and Mr. Punch), "my confessor," +(turning to Thomas the Inferior), "and my courier," (turning to Mr. +Hanlon). "In my exile you have been with me, and in my homecoming you +shall be with me still." + +"We hope to be with you always," said the tall young knight who used to +be Freddie. "But we are beginning to be noticed. I have seen one or two +people stare from the shop windows. We had better hurry to one of those +shops and seek refuge until we can find proper clothes." + +"Ah, no!" said the lady, with a radiant smile. "I must hasten home. They +have been waiting a long time, and I must not lose a moment. I know the +way! This street is changed since I was here, but I know it! I know the +way! Come with me! I am going home!" + +She placed her empty hour-glass in Freddie's hand, and led the way up +the street. Her bare feet trod the pavement swiftly; she walked as if +she had never known what it was to be lame; she went swimmingly, with a +motion of infinite grace. The others looked about them, uneasily, as +they followed, but she seemed to care nothing for the eyes of the +people. The ox-cart stopped as it came to them, and the driver who was +walking beside it stopped also, and gazed at them with his mouth open. +Faces appeared at shop-windows as they went by, and figures appeared at +shop-doors. Two or three foot-passengers passed them, and after they had +gone, went to the nearest shop-door and stood there for a moment in talk +with the shop-keeper. They then began to follow the strange white-clad +group up the street. In a few moments others joined them. Freddie looked +behind, and wished to run; but the lady who was leading paid no +attention. + +A little further on she turned a corner, and the party found themselves +in a much busier street. The sidewalks were alive with people. In a +moment there was a great silence. When the six figures first appeared, +some of the people began to laugh. Then they looked at the face of the +lady who swept along in advance of her attendants, and they laughed no +more. They began to whisper one to another. They fell apart, and made +way for her and her attendants. They stopped; they forgot their own +affairs; some ran into the shops and called out the persons who were +within; they gaped, and whispered, and nodded, and held up their hands, +and with one accord began to follow. + +Further on, heads appeared from the windows of pleasure-towers and +pleasure-domes; doors opened; all who could walk joined themselves to +the crowd which was following the wondrous lady and her five strange +companions. + +Deeper and deeper into the city; on past the region of shops into the +region of gardens and mansions; up by a gradual ascent to the place of +the largest and tallest towers and domes; on they went, the six +white-gowned and bare-footed figures before, and the crowd behind; and +the further they went, the greater became the crowd; and still there was +no sound from the people, except the sound of an awestruck whispering. + +The dark cloud on the mountain-top was now plainly in view before them +between the towers and domes, and they could see the great mass of the +King's Tower where it rose to the cloud and lost itself within it. At +the end of the street which they were now following a majestic gateway +could be seen, and beyond it a park. + +Behind them the street was choked from wall to wall with a vast +multitude. From every house, as the multitude passed, its people poured +forth and joined the throng; business was forgotten; shops and houses +were deserted; it seemed as if the whole city was in the street, +following the lady and her five attendants. She looked not behind her +once. She seemed to be unaware of anything in the world about her; her +eyes shone like stars; she had forgotten even her companions; she spoke +not a word, but looked forward to the stately gateway and the park +beyond. Still no sound came from the multitude, except a sound of +whispering. + +They reached the gateway. On each side was a great stone pillar, +supporting a gate of massive bronze. The gates were open. Without an +instant's hesitation she led the way within, and as she did so placed +her left hand on her heart. The throng seemed to waver a moment, and +then as the six barefoot and white-gowned figures moved swiftly up the +driveway into the park, it flowed in silently between the gates, and +followed at a respectful distance. + +Before them, at a distance, on a knoll from which terraces of velvet +grass descended, stood the palace of the King; white and broad and +flat-roofed. + +Passing a grove of trees, the lady left the roadway and stepped into the +smooth grass of a lawn, and sped across it directly towards the terraces +before the palace of the King. She mounted the gentle slope, her five +friends following her; and the vast throng, filling the park to the +gates, came on behind. She reached the first terrace; her hand was still +on her heart. A dog barked. + +Windows in the palace front began to go up, and faces to appear. From an +archway sprang a pack of beautiful tall white curly-haired dogs, and +rushed on the lady, barking. Freddie made as if to protect her, but she +waved him back with a smile. The dogs sprang up as if to devour her, but +they did no harm; they barked as if their throats would burst; they +leaped and gambolled about her; they thrust their noses into her hand; +they almost spoke; and in the midst of it there appeared upon the wide +steps before the palace door a noble-looking man, and beside him three +children. + +At sight of this man and the children, the lady covered her eyes for an +instant with her hands, and gave a sob; but she quickly looked up, and +sped on more swiftly than before, her hands hanging beside her, and a +bright misty look in her eyes. + +The man upon the palace steps shaded his eyes with his hands, and gazed +upon her and the multitude spread out across the park behind her. One of +the children, a tiny boy, he took by the hand, and another, a girl a +little older, he grasped with his other hand; and with the third, a boy +of something over nine, beside them, they all four came down the steps +and crossed the terrace to meet the radiant lady. + +On the next terrace they met. He dropped his children's hands, and +stopped. He was a man of some thirty years, richly clad, and handsome +beyond measure. As he stopped, the multitude found its voice. A mighty +shout went up. + +"Long live the King! Long live the King!" + +He paid no attention. His eyes were on the fair lady before him. A cry +from the oldest boy rang out clear and sharp in the silence. + +"Mother!" + +The King held out his arms. + +"My darling!" he cried. "At last! At last!" + +"Beloved!" she cried, and rushed into his arms, and buried her face in +his shoulder. + +The children clung to her, weeping, and with one arm she pressed them +close against her side. + +The multitude found its voice again. + +"Long live Queen Miranda! Long live Queen Miranda!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN + + +"There's an Old Man," said Robert to Freddie. "He lives on the mountain. +I saw him once." + +They were sitting on the palace lawn, looking up at the mountain which +rose behind the King's tower. The sun was directly overhead, and was +accordingly hidden by the cloud. The lower slopes of the mountain were +easy and gradual, but they grew steeper as they ascended, and at the +point where the mountain entered the cloud it was a straight and smooth +wall of granite, plainly impossible to climb. The King's eldest child +fixed his big eyes on the tall young man beside him. + +"I like you," said he. "I wish you would take me up the mountain some +time for blackberries. Will you?" + +"If the Queen permits," said Freddie, "we will go tomorrow." + +A long time had passed since the Queen's return; a happy time, during +which the five who had come with the Queen were made to feel as if they +had lived all their lives in a palace. The two Old Codgers were found by +Toby, comfortably established in a double shop of their own, on one side +of which the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg sold tobacco, and on the +other side of which the Sly Old Fox sold jewelry; each of them entirely +contented with his fortune, and settled down for life. The Third +Vice-President had paid his respects at the palace, and was unable to +talk of anything but his Museum, for which he was devising many plans, +including a method whereby the late Mr. Matthew Speak might be assured +against ever being blown out of the window. + +The saintly person who had once been the Churchwarden was occupied +nowadays, in a little room in the basement of the palace, in copying in +beautiful letters an ancient book belonging to the King. + +Mr. Punch and Mr. Toby spent their time in exploring the city, arm in +arm, very inquisitive, very talkative, and making friends with +everybody. + +Mr. Hanlon's work in life was, it appeared, the climbing of the King's +Tower. Every day he disappeared within, and every day he declared that +he would mount to the top before he finished; but he had not yet got to +the top, and there did not seem much prospect of his ever doing so. + +As for Freddie,--not that he was called Freddie now; the King had given +him a high-sounding name,--the Chevalier Frederick; and by that name he +was spoken of by everybody, except that Toby sometimes forgot and called +him the Chandelier. As for the Chevalier Frederick, his interest was +mainly in the Queen's three children, Robert, Genevieve, and James; and +at the present moment the oldest, Robert, was sitting with the Chevalier +on the palace lawn, gossiping. + +"We will go tomorrow," the Chevalier was saying, and then the little boy +Robert went on about the old man he had seen on the mountain. + +"I saw him once," said Robert. "Just before Mother went away. I ran away +from home, I did, and I was gone all day. Mother was terribly worried. I +ran away to the mountain, and I was muddy all over when I got back, and +it was dark, too! Mother was terribly worried. I was gone all day, I +was; and I didn't get back until after dark, I didn't; and I was muddy +all over. Oh, but it was dark. Mother, she was terribly worried." He +stopped to think it over, and then went on again. "There wasn't any +Tower then. It was just before the old chap came and built the Tower in +a night; you know about that, don't you? I ran away and didn't come home +until after dark, I didn't; Mother was worried; and Jenny--I never call +her Genevieve, because Jenny's shorter--and Jenny wouldn't go because +she was afraid, and James was too little, so I went all by myself; and +it was getting pretty dark, and I was starting home down the mountain, +because I knew Mother would be worried, and I saw the Old Man coming +down the mountain, and he didn't see me, and he had a pack on his back +and a long stick in his hand, and a gown belted in about the middle, and +he was kind of fat and bald-headed; and he didn't see me but I saw him, +and pretty soon he went down into a gully and I didn't see him any more, +and I came on home, because it was getting dark, and I knew Mother would +be worried." + +"Then perhaps we had better not go up there," said Freddie. + +"Oh no," said Robert. "It's a grand place to climb and gather berries +and flowers. And I'd like to see the Old Man again. Will you take me +there today?" + +"Tomorrow," said Freddie, "if the Queen will permit." + +At this moment Mr. Hanlon appeared, somewhat out of breath, and he and +Freddie went into the palace together. He was quite jubilant. + +"Faith," said he, "'tis a tower indade, that tower, and a swate little +bit of a journey to the top of it, if there's iver a top at all. But +it's Michael Hanlon will do it, by the bones of St. Patrick, and don't +ye forget what I'm tellin' ye, me b'y. I've been up there this day, so +high, so high--! I'll niver tell ye how high. It's comin' better; me +wind and me legs are better; in a wake, or two wakes, 'tis meself will +be fit for the grand ascent, and then there'll be news from the top, and +a proud look in the eye of Michael Hanlon, Esquire! Wait and see, me +b'y!" + +The next morning, Queen Miranda having given her consent, Freddie and +Robert left the palace for their day on the mountain. All day they +wandered up the trails, and in the afternoon, when their luncheon was +all gone and they were tired, they began to descend. It was growing +dark; they had had a glorious day, and they were sorry it would soon be +over. They stretched themselves on the ground beneath a mountain oak, +and looked below them, past the Tower, across the roof of the palace to +the city. There was no living thing in sight, except a bird which sailed +across their view and disappeared. "Well, Robert," said Freddie, "I +suppose the Old Man who used to be here is gone. Come; we must go; your +mother will be worried." + +They got to their feet. As they did so, a kind of groan startled them. +They listened. It came again, from some point near by. Freddie thought +he could make out a weak human voice, trying to call for help. Drawing +Robert after him, he climbed over a number of boulders and mounted to +the top of a rise in the ground, and looked down into a deep gully, +covered on its sides with rocks and bushes. What he saw there gave him a +start of alarm. + +At the bottom was an old man, lying on his back, with one leg doubled +under him, his face up to the sky. From his lips came a groan, followed +by a faint cry for help. His head was bald, he was rather stout, he wore +a long white beard, and he was clad in a short dark gown, belted about +the middle. His legs were bare, and on the foot which was visible he +wore a sandal. + +Robert looked over Freddie's shoulder, and whispered in his ear. +"That's him! He's fallen down and hurt himself." + +It was true. The old man had evidently fallen, and he was plainly +suffering. Freddie clambered down to him, and knelt beside him. The old +man looked into the young man's eyes, and said, in a feeble whisper: + +"My leg. Broken. Help me home." + +Freddie assisted him into a sitting position, and then lifted him up and +held him. + +"I cannot walk," said the old man. "Unless you can carry me, I must die +here." + +Freddie was properly proud of his new strength, and he believed that he +could carry the old man. + +"Where do you live?" said he. + +"Up the mountain. I will show you. I beg you to carry me home." + +"I will do my best," said Freddie. + +He turned his back to the old man, and supporting him at the same time +put the old man's arms about his neck, and by a great effort got the +poor creature on his back. Carrying him thus, he began to go haltingly +up the side of the gully. The little boy watched them wonderingly. + +It was a terrible journey. The old man directed Freddie from moment to +moment, and the way led steadily up the mountain, by a course which +Freddie had not seen that day. The burden on Freddie's back became +heavier and heavier; he panted harder and harder under it; he stumbled +from time to time, and every instant told himself that he could go no +further. The old man seemed to think of nothing but of getting home. The +little boy followed, staring with big eyes. + +Freddie had gone but a short way up the mountain-side when he felt +through all his back, where it touched the old man, a chill; his +shoulders and throat, where the arms of the old man touched them, +became cold; as he struggled on, the chill increased; he felt as if he +were hugging to his back a burden of ice. + +"Are we nearly there?" he asked, trying to wipe a cold perspiration from +his forehead. + +"No, no," said the old man. "Go on. A long way yet. You can't be tired +so soon." + +The cold upon Freddie's back and shoulders and throat became a dead +numbness; he was too cold to shiver; his arms too were now becoming +numb, and he felt that he could hold his burden no longer. He stopped. + +"I must put you down," he said. "I must rest a moment. I don't know what +makes me so cold." + +"No, no," said the old man. "Too soon! too soon! Keep on!" + +"I cannot," said Freddie. "I am freezing. My strength is gone. I must +rest." + +With these words he let the old man carefully down, and laid him on the +ground. He stood there panting and rubbing his frozen hands together. + +"Stupid weakling," said the old man, staring up at him, "go and search +upon the mountain-side and bring me hither seeds of the fennel which you +will there find, and be quick; for I perish." + +Freddie and the little boy hastened away together, and at a distance on +the mountain-side found, after a long search, a few plants of the +fennel, with which they hurried back to the old man. + +He was gone. + +They looked far and near; they examined every nook and cranny; the +mountain was steep at this point, and difficult for any sound man; for +an old man, crippled, it seemed impossible, but he was nowhere to be +found; he was gone. + +Freddie and Robert turned homeward, and made hard work of it. The little +boy became extremely heated with his labor; but Freddie remained as +cold as ever. It is true that he perspired, but the beads upon his +forehead were like the beads upon ice-cold glass. His hands were so numb +that when he cut them slightly on a rock he felt no pain. His back, +where the old man had clung to it with his body, was coldest of all; he +was so stiff that he could scarcely bend his arms or body; many times +the little boy had to help him down; the chill spread; at the foot of +the mountain his legs were nearly as cold as his arms; when they passed +the Tower, his knees were as if frozen, and would not bend; the little +boy put his arm about him and tried to help him walk; he began to lose +knowledge of his whereabouts; he held out a stiff arm before him, like a +blind man, and dragged one foot after the other like a man whose legs +are made of stone. The little boy, weeping to himself, took his icy +outstretched hand, and led him home. + +The palace door was thrown open. The little boy rushed in with a cry, +and turned around to his companion. The white-faced rigid creature which +was Freddie stood in the doorway, staring vacantly, and fell slowly +forward on its face upon the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE KING'S TOWER + + +Freddie was very ill. He was so ill that after a week the King gave up +all hope, and believed he would die. The Queen wept bitterly; she +scarcely left his side; at night she did not sleep for weeping, and by +day she sat by his bed and watched his cold white face. His friends were +not allowed to see him, and of these it appeared that Mr. Hanlon had +been gone for some days up the Tower. + +All that the best doctors in the city could do had been done, but the +Chevalier was no better. He lay under the blankets, cold as ice and +motionless as stone; and his eyes, big round eyes like the eyes of a +child, stared up strangely out of deep sockets. They looked up at the +King, who was bending down over the bed and smiling encouragingly. The +Queen and her three children, Robert, Genevieve, and James, were +standing close by, but they could not smile. + +"Come, Chevalier," said the King, "you will be well soon, I am sure." + +A faint voice came from the pale lips; not the voice of a grown man, but +the voice of a child. + +"That isn't my name," it said, "my name is--Fweddie." + +The King went away, and took his children with him; and after they had +gone the Queen heard the childish voice again from the bed. + +"I want to see Aunt Amanda." + +The Queen went to him, and stood beside the bed. He looked up at her. + +"You aren't Aunt Amanda," he said. "I want to see Aunt Amanda." + +"I think that was my name once," said the Queen. "Will you talk to me?" + +He looked at her again, and she saw that he did not know her. + +"My farver sent me," he said. "Mr. Toby has gone to the barber-shop, and +my farver he wants a pound of Cage-Roach Mitchner." + +"Mr. Toby is here in the palace now, and I'm sure he--" + +"I don't know about any palace. I can't wait long. My farver told me to +hurry." + +The Queen said no more, and Freddie appeared to go to sleep. The night +came on, and the Queen still sat by his side. It grew very late; her +children had long since gone to bed, and even the King was asleep in his +own apartments. The palace was silent, and there was scarcely a light +anywhere in the great place except the light of a taper on a table in +Freddie's room. The Queen was bending forward, watching the face on the +pillow. The eyes were closed, the lips were together, and there was no +sign of breathing. She knew that it could not be much longer; she buried +her face in her hands and wept bitterly. + +A gentle tap upon the door aroused her. She rose and admitted Mr. Toby +and Mr. Punch, Thomas the Inferior, and Mr. Hanlon. + +"Quick, ma'am," said Mr. Hanlon. "There's not a minute to be lost. If +you plase, I'll ask ye to put on yer bonnet in a hurry, ma'am. We're off +on a journey, and the poor sick young lad's coming along with us. If +you'll just be in a hurry with the bonnet, ma'am!" + +The Queen, scarcely realizing what she was doing, left the room, and +went first to the nursery, where she bent over her three sleeping +children and kissed them each, and murmured a loving good-bye above +them, as if she were going to leave them; and for a long, long time she +gazed at each rosy face, as if to fix it in her memory forever. + +When she returned to the room, wearing a shawl over her head and +shoulders, she was startled to see that the sick youth was sitting +upright in a chair, thickly wrapped in blankets. His round childlike +eyes were wide open, and to her surprise a faint smile seemed to hover +about his lips. + +She looked at the others. Each held, in his hand an empty hour-glass. + +"Plase to get your hour-glass, ma'am," said Mr. Hanlon, "and Freddie's +too." + +Freddie's hour-glass was soon found in a drawer in the same room; the +Queen's she brought in a moment from another room. + +Mr. Hanlon picked up from the floor, where he had previously laid it, a +small canvas bag, and placed it on the table under the candle. All of +the empty hour-glasses he placed upon the table, and unscrewed the part +of each by which it was designed to receive its load of sand. He lifted +his bag, and out of it poured into each glass a quantity of fine white +sand. "A little more or less won't matter a mite," said he, when he had +filled them all. "A foine time I've had getting the sand, 'tis sure, but +it's the true article, straight from the hand of the old crayture +himself, and 'tis him we're going to this very minute, and the young lad +with us. By the sand in the hour-glasses we'll get back to the old +crayture in one-tinth the time it took me to find him without it, and by +the same we'll get him to save for us the poor lad's life, or me name's +not Michael." + +Each now took his hour-glass in his hand. They were the same +hour-glasses they had bought of Shiraz the Persian, and the sand which +was now in them was the same sort of fine white sand which had been in +them before their ordeal in the fire. + +Mr. Punch and Mr. Toby lifted the sick youth from his chair, and carried +him between them, in a sitting position, towards the door. Mr. Hanlon +looked at him anxiously, and commanded haste. + +In a moment the whole party were in the hall, and in a few moments more +they were crossing the lawn towards King's Tower. It was a clear night, +and the sky was spangled with stars. + +Mr. Hanlon opened the door of the Tower, and when they were all within +closed it again. + +"Madam and gintlemen," said he, "we are going to the top of the Tower. I +have been there meself; and there's wan at the top who can bring back +our young frind to life, if he's a mind to do it." + +"Oh!" gasped the Queen in terror. "I must not go to the top of this +tower. Ah!" she stopped suddenly and went on in a determined voice. "I +will, though. If it is to be, then it must be. Our young Chevalier came +here for me, and I will go with him! If my strength holds out, I will go +even to the top of the Tower, whatever evil may befall me there!" + +"'Tis not strength that's needed, madam," said Mr. Hanlon, "for the old +crayture that give me the sand was willing to help us up to him, and the +sand will make the travellin' easy, or else the old haythen has much +desayved me. 'Twas all I could do to get to the top, belave me, and ye'd +niver do it without the sand in the glasses, let alone carry up the +young lad in your arms besides. Now we'll be going up the stairs, and if +the old crayture didn't desayve me, you're to hold your hour-glasses in +your hands, and see what happens." + +Mr. Hanlon went up first; then came the Queen, and after her Mr. Punch +and Mr. Toby, bearing between them in an upright position the stiff cold +form of the young Chevalier; and last of all came Thomas the Inferior, +in his long brown gown and sandals. + +Each climbed slowly, but the steps appeared to flow downward under their +feet with great rapidity. They were not conscious of selecting any +particular tread to step on; but while a foot was rising from one step +to the next, it seemed as if a thousand steps were passing downward, +until the foot came down and found itself on a perfectly motionless +tread. Undoubtedly they were mounting, without unusual exertion, a +thousand steps at a time. + +Even at that rate of progress, the journey upward seemed an endless one. +They paused sometimes to go into one of the rooms on a landing for a +moment's rest, and at those times they looked out of a window. It was +not long before they were so high that on looking out, the City's lights +were no more than a glowing blur. At the last window on their upward +progress they looked up at the cloud; it was immediately above their +heads. After that there were no more windows. They went on upward in +silence, aware in the darkness of the swift flow of steps downward under +them as they raised their feet. Each observed that as he raised his foot +the sand in his hour-glass flowed downward a thousand times more +rapidly, as if time were suddenly running faster than it was used to +running. + +The walls of the tower were by this time coming closer together, and the +stair was even steeper than before. They were panting for breath, and +Mr. Punch and Mr. Toby seemed to be all but exhausted. "We are almost at +the top," said Mr. Hanlon. "Keep on. Don't give up." + +It was now, because there were no more rooms nor windows, completely +dark. The face of the sick youth could not be seen, and no one knew +whether he was still living. Even the sand in their hour-glasses they +were now unable to see. + +"We are almost there," said Mr. Hanlon. "Only another minute or two. +'Tis easy work to what I had in coming up alone." + +Mr. Punch gave a groan. "Hi carn't go another step," said he. "Hi'm +completely--" + +At this moment Mr. Hanlon stopped upon a landing. It had been a long +while since there had been a landing, and they were all glad to rest +upon it. They crowded about Mr. Hanlon in the dark. + +"The door is over there," said he. "Keep close to me." + +He walked a few feet forward across the level floor, and came to a stop +again. + +"'Tis the top of the tower," said he. "I hope we're not too late to save +the young lad's life. Stand close behind me." + +He moved forward again, and stopped; he was evidently feeling a wall +with his hands. + +"Ah!" said he. "'Tis the door itself. Now, thin, we'll see!" + +He knocked upon the door with his knuckles. + +There was no response. + +He knocked again. + +There was a sound upon the other side of the door, as of the rattling of +a chain and the sliding of a bolt. + +A slit of light appeared up and down in the dark wall; it became wider; +it was apparent that the door was opening; and in another moment the +door was flung wide, and in the doorway stood an Old Man, holding up in +his right hand a lantern in which glimmered a candle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SORCERER'S DEN + + +He was an old man, rather stout, dressed in a short gown tied in with a +cord about the middle, and wearing sandals on his feet. He stooped +somewhat; a white beard hung to his waist; his head was bald, except for +a forelock of white hair which drooped over his forehead towards his +eyes. There was a humorous twinkle in his eye, and a smile overspread +his broad round face. + +"'Tis the old parrty who will cure the Chivalier," said Mr. Hanlon, +behind his hand. + +"It's the Old Man of the Mountain," whispered Toby. + +"It's the Magician who built the Tower," whispered Queen Miranda, in +alarm. + +"Hit's me own father, as ever was!" cried Mr. Punch, aloud. "Greetings, +old dear! 'Ere's a surprise, what? 'Owever did you come 'ere? Hi'm no +end glad to see you, and the larst person Hi should 'ave thought to see +in this--My word, what a lark!" + +"Come in, Punch," said the old gentleman, affably, "and your friends +too. I'm very glad to see you, my boy. I've had some trouble in getting +you here, but here you are at last, thanks to my good friend Hanlon, and +you are now well out of the hands of Shiraz. Put the Little Boy down in +that chair, and we'll see what we can do for him!" + +To speak of a grown-up youth with a mustache as a Little Boy seemed +hardly respectful, but Freddie did not seem to mind it; indeed, his big +round childlike eyes dwelt fondly on the old man, and there was +something like a smile about his lips. He was seated gently in a chair +within the room, and while Mr. Punch's father set down his lantern on a +table, the others looked about them. + +They were in a small square room with a low ceiling. By the dim light of +the candle they could see that it was bare and dusty; cobwebs hung in +all the corners; there seemed to be no windows, but set upright in one +wall was what looked like the back of a clock, as tall as a man. +Opposite the door by which they had entered was another door. Around the +walls were shelves, from floor to ceiling, crowded with hour-glasses of +all sizes. + +The old gentleman observed the look which Toby cast at the shelves. + +"One of my store-rooms," said he. "I've got a good many of 'em, all +told, and in fact you'll find a store-room of mine in the top of nearly +every clock-tower in the world. It takes a deal of space to keep all the +hour-glasses in, I can tell you. If you'll give me yours, I'll put 'em +away for you. Shiraz got 'em away from me once, but he won't do it +again. He manages to steal one now and then, when I'm away, but I +usually get 'em back, sooner or later." + +He collected the hour-glasses from his visitors, and put them away on a +shelf. + +"Look 'ere, parent," said Mr. Punch, "hif I didn't know better, I'd s'y +as I'd seen this room before. There's the back of the clock, and the +door over there looks like--" + +"You've a sharp eye, Punch, my boy," said the old gentleman. "Quite a +detective you are, my son. Now, then, we'd better get busy. Aunt Amanda, +do you want me to cast off your enchantment?" + +"Why do you call me that?" asked Queen Miranda. + +"Because that's your name. Don't you know who you are?" + +"I know I was enchanted once, under the name of Aunt Amanda." + +"No, no. You're enchanted _now_, under the name of Queen Miranda." + +"But Shiraz the Persian told us he would disenchant us, and he did." + +"No, no. You were yourselves before, and _now_ you are enchanted." + +"My brain is in a whirl," said Queen Miranda. "Are we ourselves now, or +were we ourselves before?" + +"By crackey," said Toby, "it's too much for me, and I give it up. +Anyway, what we want to know is, can you cure the Chevalier?" + +"I can, and I will," said the old man. "There's nothing the matter with +him, except that he isn't himself. As soon as he's himself again, he'll +be well. He was given the chance once before, but he didn't know how to +use it; he made a great mistake." + +"What mistake?" said Toby. + +"He made the mistake of carrying the Old Man of the Mountain on his +back. If he had only lifted him up in his arms before him, the Old Man +would have been as light as a feather, and Freddie would have been +himself again in a flash. But of course he didn't know. We've got to +correct his mistake." + +"Well, by crickets," said Toby, "this is Correction Island, right +enough. Blamed if I know which is the mistake and which is the +correction. It looks to me as if it was a mistake to be corrected, and +we've got to correct the correction back again." + +"Something like that," said the old man, smiling. "I'm going to undo the +correction of each one of you, and then you'll all be yourselves once +more, instead of these false things you now are." + +Queen Miranda looked at the ruby ring on her finger, and wept quietly to +herself. As for Freddie, his eyes never left the face of the old man. + +The old man stooped over Freddie, and laid his cheek against the young +Chevalier's pale forehead, and then against the young man's cheeks; he +then threw aside the blankets and sat himself down on Freddie's knees. +His body pressed the young man's breast, and his cheek touched the young +man's cheeks one after the other. It was some moments before there was +any change. The others watched anxiously. A red glow began to appear in +Freddie's cheeks, and his eyes became brighter. He raised his hands; he +moved his head; he looked about him; he smiled into the face of the old +man. + +"You are better?" said the old man. + +"I'm very well," said Freddie, in a clear voice. "But I think I must +have been sick. Have I been sick?" + +"Rather," said the old man. "But you are going to be yourself again in +another minute. Now, then; put your arms around me and lift me off. Can +you do that?" + +"Easily," said Freddie, and he lifted the old man in his arms, and +rising to his feet at the same time, tossed the old man off with an easy +gesture. + +As the old man touched the floor, there was no longer any Chevalier. +Freddie was standing before the chair in his own person; the Little Boy +once more, with sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks. He looked around in +surprise. + +"Where are Aunt Amanda and the others?" said the Little Boy. + +"Wait just a minute, Freddie," said the old man. "Now, madam," he said +to Queen Miranda, "if you will be kind enough to lift me up and toss me +away--" + +Queen Miranda looked at him doubtfully. He was a solid-looking person, +and it seemed absurd to think of lifting him. But she did as he +directed, and placing her hands under his arms she found that he weighed +no more than a baby. She held him up off the floor. + +"Now cast me off," said he. + +She tossed him away with an easy gesture, and he alighted on his feet +with a bound. + +"Aunt Amanda!" cried Freddie, and rushed into her arms. + +"Land sakes!" said she. "I thought you were never coming. Where are all +the others? I'm glad there's nobody but this old man to see me in this +bedraggled bonnet. Why don't that Toby Littleback come? Now ain't it +like him to keep me waiting here all night? I never see such an +exasperatin'--" + +"Wait just one moment, Aunt Amanda," said the old man. "I'll have him +here immediately." + +He stood before Toby, and directed him what to do. Toby seized him in +his strong hands and lifted him up over his head like a feather pillow; +and such a toss did Toby give him as sent him flying across the room +almost to the wall. The old man came down on his feet with a bound. + +"You Toby Littleback!" said Aunt Amanda. "Ain't it just like you to keep +me and Freddie waiting here all night, while--And where's Mr. Punch and +all the rest of 'em?" + +Toby stood before her, with his hands in his pockets. His hump was on +his back in its rightful place, and he looked exactly as he had looked +the first time Freddie had seen him, standing in the doorway of the Old +Tobacco Shop. + +"I ain't been nowhere, Aunt Amanda," said Toby. "And I don't know where +Mr. Punch is, neither. I ain't his guardian, anyway. The last I seen of +him, as far as I remember, was in Shiraz's garden, lookin' round at the +flowers. By crackey, if he can't take care of himself, I ain't a-going +to do it for him. Maybe the old gentleman here can tell you, if you want +to know." + +"Wait just a moment," said the old man. "I'll have him here +immediately." + +Mr. Punch laughed immoderately as he picked up his own father and tossed +him in the air and hurled him across the room. The old man did not seem +to mind it a bit, but joined in the laugh as he came down on his feet +with a bounce. Mr. Punch was immediately himself again; his hump was on +his back, his breast stuck out, his long-tailed coat and knee breeches +were as before, and he looked as if he might just have stepped down from +his wooden box beside the Tobacco Shop's door. + +"Wery glad," said he, "to myke you acquainted with me old parent; and a +wery good parent too, hif----" + +"That's enough, Punch," said his father. "Now we'll bring on the +Churchwarden." + +In another moment the thin and saintly-looking Thomas the Inferior was +gone, and in his place was the fat and comfortable Churchwarden, +blinking at his friends through his round spectacles. + +"I have been considering," said he, "that it would be highly desirable, +after all I have passed through lately, to sit in my chair on the +pavement against the wall of my church with a pipe and a newspaper; and +I have concluded that----" + +"We will now call Mr. Hanlon," said the old man. + +From the time Mr. Hanlon placed his hands under the old man's arms his +tongue was rattling on at a prodigious speed; and as he tossed the old +man lightly away like a doll he was saying, "And niver once did the +spacheless man and the deaf wife have anny worrds except once; and 'twas +then that----." But he spoke no more. He was himself again. He was +dumb. Toby greeted him warmly, but he only nodded his head vigorously, +and smiled his old-time cheerful smile. + +"That's all," said the old man. + +"But the two Old Codgers----" began Toby. + +"They will not be here," said the old man. "No use waiting. They made +their choice some time ago. They are as much themselves now as they ever +were, and they will remain where they are in perfect contentment. No +need to bother about them. All that remains now is to bid you farewell, +and wish you a pleasant journey." + +"Have we far to go?" said Toby. + +"You'll see," said the old gentleman, going to the door, that was +opposite the one by which they had entered, and throwing it open. + +He stood aside as they passed, and smiled upon each with a kind and +fatherly smile. He placed his hand on Freddie's head, and turned the +Little Boy's face up so that he could look down into his eyes. + +"Remember!" he said. "Never carry the Old Man of the Mountain on your +back. Carry him before you in your hands, and he will be as light as a +feather. Now farewell." + +He gently pushed them out and closed the door behind them, and they went +slowly down a dark stair. Toby held Freddie's hand, and Mr. Punch helped +Aunt Amanda. They could see very little, and they knew very little where +they were, until they found themselves after a time on a level floor, +and feeling the wall with their hands came to a pair of swinging doors. +Through these doors they passed, and Toby knocked his knee against +something in the dark. + +"It's a long bench!" said Toby. "And here's a sight of other long +benches! Blamed if they don't seem like pews in a church!" + +A dim light as of tall windows was visible at some distance on their +left. + +The Churchwarden pushed forward and walked swiftly here and there with +the step of one who knows the way. In a moment he returned. + +"It's a church," he said, calmly. "It's _my_ church. This way, madam and +gentlemen." + +He led the way to the left. Under a great round window which could be +dimly seen in the wall was a wide door, before which they all paused. + +"As captain of this party," said Aunt Amanda, "my orders is that we open +the door and see what will happen next." + +"Ay, ay, ma'am," said the Churchwarden, and opened the door. + +In a moment they were standing under the stars on a brick pavement +before a church, and on the pavement against the church wall was an +empty chair. + +"Ah!" said the Churchwarden, and sat down in the chair. + +"Mercy on us!" cried Aunt Amanda. "We're _home_!" + +"Blamed if we ain't!" said Toby. "It's our own street, and I can almost +see the Tobacco Shop from here!" + +"Harfter a life of adventure," said Mr. Punch, "one will find it wery +pleasant to stand quietly on one's little perch and rest one's legs and +see one's old friends go in and hout at the Old Tobacco Shop once more, +watching for the 'ands of the clock to come together for a bit of +relaxation with one's----" + +"All right, young feller!" cried Toby to Freddie. "Come with me. Mr. +Punch, take Aunt Amanda home. I'll be with you as soon as I've got +Freddie safe." + +Aunt Amanda and Mr. Punch went off together towards the Old Tobacco +Shop. Mr. Hanlon, after shaking hands all round, departed for the Gaunt +Street Theatre, where he would be no longer troubled by the imps, who +had long since been destroyed by the Odour of Sanctity. The +Churchwarden preferred to enjoy for awhile the comfort of his old chair +by the Church wall, and Toby and Freddie left him there, his hands +folded placidly across his stomach. + +Freddie and Toby crossed the street-car track, hand in hand together. +The horse had gone to bed for the night, and there was no danger. All +the houses were dark. It was very late. No light was to be seen +anywhere, except a gas-lamp at the next corner. The streets were silent +and deserted. Freddie yawned. + +Freddie's house was dark, like all the rest. A narrow brick passage-way +followed a fence to the rear, between this house and the next, and a +gate opened from the sidewalk into this passage. Freddie and Toby went +through this gate and crept quietly to the backyard of Freddie's house. +The kitchen-door was locked, but Toby found a window which was +unfastened. He raised it noiselessly, and helped Freddie to climb in. +With a whispered good-night the Little Boy left his friend and tiptoed +into the house and up the back stairs in the dark to his own room. + +His bed was there in its old place, and the covers were turned down. He +did not stop to say his prayers. He yawned and stretched his arms. He +wanted nothing now but to lie snug and safe under the cool sheets. He +threw off his clothes and left them on the floor. He knew where his +night-gown was. He crept into bed; he pulled the covers up to his ears; +he nestled his head into the pillow, and breathed a deep sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE OLD TOBACCO SHOP + + +The next morning, when Freddie awoke, his mother and father were +standing over his bed. + +"I think he had better not go there anymore," his father was saying. + +"Oh, I don't think it will do him any harm now," said his mother. + +"It all comes of his staying away so long," said his father. "I always +told him to hurry back, and just see how long he stayed this time. If he +can't come back in less than six months or six years or heaven knows how +long, he'd better not go at all." + +"Oh," said his mother, "I'm sure he'll come back promptly after this." + +"I couldn't," said Freddie. "It took such a long time to get to the +Island, and there was all the trouble with the pirates, and it was a +terrible long journey before we got to the palace, and of course we +couldn't run away from the queen after we'd gone all that long way with +her, and the queen's children didn't want me to go anyway, and there +wasn't any way to get back, except for finding out how to get to the top +of the tower, and maybe I wouldn't have got back at all if I hadn't met +the Old Man of the Mountain, and got sick and cured again by Mr. Punch's +father, and I might have got drowned when the ship disappeared, or I +might have had my head cut off by the pirates, and then you wouldn't +have seen me any more, and you'd have been sorry." + +His father looked at his mother, and nodded his head. + +"He'd better stay in bed today," said he. "We won't talk to him about it +until tomorrow." + +"Yes," said his mother, "that will be much better. Poor little Freddie!" + +Freddie did not know why he should be called poor, but he was still +tired from the adventurous life he had recently lived, and he was very +glad to remain in bed all day. + +The next morning, after his father had said good-bye for the day, his +mother allowed him to get up, and a little later to go out into the +sunshine. He strolled down the street, enjoying the familiar sights +after his long absence. He found his legs a little weak; he must have +been very ill indeed at the King's palace, and he could not expect to +get over it in one day. He crossed the street-car track, and on the +pavement before the church he saw a well-known figure. + +The Churchwarden was sitting in his chair tilted back against the wall, +smoking a long pipe and reading a newspaper. As Freddie approached he +put down his paper and looked at him over his spectacles. + +"Good morning," said he. "I'm glad to see you back again. I hear you've +been away." And he winked his eye at Freddie in a very knowing manner. + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. "I guess I must have been pretty sick." + +"No doubt about it, my son. But of course I knew all the time you'd pull +through." + +Freddie did not believe it for a moment; obviously the Churchwarden was +bragging. + +"The street looks pretty good," said Freddie, "after being away so long. +Would you rather sit here on the pavement than do anything else?" + +"I believe you, son. I'd rather sit here on a sunny day with a pipe and +a newspaper than have all the treasure of the Incas." + +Freddie was glad to hear that the Churchwarden did not regret the loss +of his share of the treasure, though whether Captain Lingo belonged to +the Incas he did not know. + +"I don't care anything about the treasure myself," said he. "I'm too +glad to be well again and back in our own street." + +"I'm glad I'm here myself, son. And if you happen to see Toby Littleback +this morning, tell him I'm alive and resting well, considering." + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, and continued his stroll. + +The Old Tobacco Shop, when he arrived, looked as it had looked on the +fateful day when he had last seen it. He paused before the door, and +gazed at Mr. Punch. He half expected the little man to step down and +shake hands with him; but Mr. Punch did not move a muscle; he did not +even look at Freddie; he held out in one hand a packet of black cigars, +and his wooden face, if it expressed anything at all, showed the great +calm which he must have felt when he got back to his little perch. +Freddie looked up at the clock in the tower, with some thought that the +hands might be together; but it was a quarter past ten, and anyway Mr. +Punch's father was probably by this time far away in some other of his +store-rooms about the world. + +Freddie entered the shop. Mr. Toby was behind the counter, opening a +package of tobacco. + +"Aha! young feller!" he cried. "Back again, sure enough! Blamed if it +don't seem as if you'd been away from here for a year. And a mighty sick +chap you were, that's a fact. I reckon we all thought you were going to +die, maybe; by crackey, I never seen anyone so pale in my life. Are you +all right now?" + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie. "And I'm glad to be back. Are you glad to be +here in the shop, the same as ever?" + +"Me? You bet I am. You couldn't buy me to leave this shop, not if you +offered me all the money that Captain Kidd ever buried. No, sir. And +look here, young man; I reckon you ain't surprised to see that the +Chinaman's head is gone; eh?" + +Freddie looked at the shelf behind Toby, and sure enough, the Chinaman's +head was gone. He knew, of course, that it was lying at the bottom of +the ocean. + +"I kind of lost it one day," said Toby, winking his eye. "Mislaid it, +you know, or lost it, one or the other, I don't know which,--but, +anyway, I reckon it won't never be found. It's gone. I hope you don't +mind it now, do you?" + +"No, sir," said Freddie. He was glad to know that Mr. Toby was not still +feeling disturbed because he had left it on board The Sieve. + +"All right, then," said Toby. "You'd better go in and see Aunt Amanda." + +Freddie opened the door at the rear of the shop and went into the back +room. Aunt Amanda was sitting by the table, sewing. + +On the table were the wax flowers and the album and the double glasses +through which you looked at the twin pictures. The room was just as if +they had never left it. + +"Eshyereerilart," said Aunt Amanda, taking a handful of pins from her +mouth. "Bless your dear little heart, I'm glad you're back again. Are +you well? Sit down on the hassock." + +Freddie took his customary place on the hassock at her feet. He looked +up at her and wondered if she were sorry she had been a queen once and +was a queen no more. + +"Yes'm," said he. "I'm all well now." + +"And glad to be back here in the shop again?" + +"Yes'm; I cert'n'y am." + +[Illustration: "Ah, yes," said Aunt Amanda, "there's no place like the +Old Tobacco Shop, after all."] + +"Ah, yes," said Aunt Amanda, "there's no place like the Old Tobacco +Shop, after all. I wouldn't exchange it for a palace if you'd give it to +me." + +"Wouldn't you?" said Freddie, a little surprised at this. + +"I should say not. I wouldn't be myself in a palace. I'm pretty well +satisfied here." + +"But what about the children?" said Freddie. + +"The children?" asked Aunt Amanda. + +"Yes. Robert and Jenny and James. _You_ know." + +Aunt Amanda looked at him for a moment, and then nodded her head and +sighed. + +"Yes," she said. "You know about them, don't you? I forgot that you +knew. Yes, I miss them a good deal, and I suppose I even cry sometimes +because I haven't got them. But I love to think about them. I'm happy +thinking about them, even if I can't have them." + +"James was the littlest," said Freddie. + +"Yes," said Aunt Amanda, nodding her head to herself as if at a gentle +memory. + +"He was too little to go out much with the others," said Freddie. + +"Yes," said Aunt Amanda, "he was too little." + +"And Jenny," said Freddie, "she wouldn't go with Robert the day he ran +away. He wanted her to, but she wouldn't." + +"No," said Aunt Amanda, "she wouldn't." + +"He was gone all day," said Freddie. + +"Yes," said Aunt Amanda, "he was gone all day, and he didn't get back +until after dark. I didn't know where he was. When he got back it was +dark, and he was muddy all over. I was terribly worried." + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Tobacco Shop, by William Bowen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD TOBACCO SHOP *** + +***** This file should be named 26977-8.txt or 26977-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/7/26977/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Katie Ward and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |