"July 7th.I ought to tell about the fire; but I can't write with mother's pen any more than Zip can write with a sponge."I am so sorry, but a boy fired a cracker. He didn't mean to burn up the city at all. He just touched it off for fun."There was going to be a procession, but I believe it didn'tprocess. I never saw anything whiz and crack so in all my life! The fire danced and ran all over the city as if it was alive! It burnt just as if it was glad of it. The trees are all black where the green was scorched off. You wouldn't think it was summer. It doesn't look like winter. Father says it looks like a graveyard."Dotty lost her tea-set. Susy thought she should faint away, but she didn't—we couldn't find the camphor bottle. A man saved six eggs and the pepper box."It was real too badgrandma'sroom was burnt up! When I went into grandma's room I used to feel just like singing. Mother says that isn't so bad as wickedness. She says it is 'home where the heart is.'"Dotty hasn't had any temper for five days. Finis."
"July 7th.I ought to tell about the fire; but I can't write with mother's pen any more than Zip can write with a sponge.
"I am so sorry, but a boy fired a cracker. He didn't mean to burn up the city at all. He just touched it off for fun.
"There was going to be a procession, but I believe it didn'tprocess. I never saw anything whiz and crack so in all my life! The fire danced and ran all over the city as if it was alive! It burnt just as if it was glad of it. The trees are all black where the green was scorched off. You wouldn't think it was summer. It doesn't look like winter. Father says it looks like a graveyard.
"Dotty lost her tea-set. Susy thought she should faint away, but she didn't—we couldn't find the camphor bottle. A man saved six eggs and the pepper box.
"It was real too badgrandma'sroom was burnt up! When I went into grandma's room I used to feel just like singing. Mother says that isn't so bad as wickedness. She says it is 'home where the heart is.'
"Dotty hasn't had any temper for five days. Finis."
Just about this time a letter came from Willowbrook, saying Mrs. Clifford was quite ill, and asking Mrs. Parlin to go to her. Aunt Louisa said it was fortunate that the children could stay at their aunt Eastman's. She did not know that Mrs. Parlin left them there very reluctantly, having her own private fears that her youngest daughter might fall into mischief.
Dotty kissed her mother good by, and promised to be perfect; but Mrs. Parlin knew too well how the child's resolutions were apt to wither away for want of root.
"Johnny, Johnny, come to the window, quick!" said Dotty; "see this bird!"
"I've seen birds before," replied her little cousin, coolly, and walking as slowly as possible.
"But this one peeps as if he was hurt; see how he pecks to get in."
"Don't you take him in!" exclaimed Angeline, the kitchen girl; "it's a bad sign to have birds come fluttering round a window."
"What do you mean by asign?" asked Dotty, who had never heard of any silly superstitions in her life.
"Let him alone," cried Johnny, "or you'll die before the week's out, sure's you live!"
Dotty laughed. "A bird can't make me die," said she, seizing the trembling little oriole, and holding him close to her bosom. "O, you birdie darling! Did your mamma go 'way off, and couldn't find a worm? Dotty'll be your mamma, so she will."
She put him in a basket stuffed with rags, and hung over him tenderly for half an hour.
"You're bringing down trouble, I'm afraid, child," said Angeline, gravely, as she walked back and forth, doing her work.
Mrs. Parlin, away off at Willowbrook, was at that moment bathing Mrs. Clifford's forehead. I think she might have dropped the sponge in dismay if she had known what pernicious nonsense was finding its way into Dotty's ears.
Just as Angeline was in the midst of a ghost story, Johnny rushed in again.
"Come," said he, shaking Dotty by the shoulders, "let's go play poison."
"O, no, Johnny. I'm hearing the nicest, awfullest story! And then it rains so, too!"
"Doesn't, either. Only sprinkles. And when it sprinkles, it's asuresign it isn't going to rain."
"Who told you so?"
"Your grandmother Read. She's a Quaker, and she can't lie. Come, Dot Parlin; if you don't like poison, come out and play soldier."
"I don't want to play a single thing; so there, now, Johnny Eastman!"
"Then you're a cross old party, miss."
"I'm not a party at all. I'm only one girl."
"O, Dotty!" called Prudy from the cellar-way; "take care! take care!"
"So I am taking care," returned Dotty, stoutly. "For my own mother doesn't 'low me to go out doors and get rained on, and he knows it."
It was coming, Prudy feared—her sister's naughty temper. She saw a shadow no larger than a man's hand; but it would not do to let it grow. She must brush it away at once.
"Let's play something in the house," said she, quickly.
"All right," returned Johnny; "only not sit down."
"Yes, let'sdosit down," interposed Dotty, with a view to thwarting Johnny.
"Suppose we play Hindoo," suggested Prudy, "if we can get Susy and Flossy into it."
"Play what?"
"Why, play we are Hindoos, and live away off in the Indian Ocean."
"Fishes or sharks?" asked Johnny, growing interested.
"O,people; and they act so queer. Mother played it with us once, when Susy had the toothache."
The older girls were hard to be persuaded. They did not like to leave their shell-work; but they came at last.
"Johnny shall be Joggo," said Susy; "that's a boy's name; Prudy will be 'Drop of Honey,' and Flossy 'Young Beauty,' and Dotty 'Summer Moon,' and I 'Onno.'"
"'Young Beauty' 's the prettiest," said Dotty; "if I can't play that, I'd rather stay with my birdie, and not play."
"Why," cried Susy, "how foo—;" but catching Prudy's eye, she added, "you mayas well be Young Beauty; Flossy wouldn't mind. But now I think of it, Prudy, we can't play school, for girls don't go to school in India."
"Make believe you are boys, then," observed Johnny, whose interest in the game had flagged since he knew that Hindoos were not sharks.
"We'll play it's six o'clock in the morning," continued Susy.
"That isn't school time," remonstrated Dotty.
"O, yes, it is, in India. I'm the teacher. Give me a stick, please."
"Here's my old riding-whip," said Flossy, producing it from the wood-box. Things were tucked away in very queer places at Mrs. Eastman's.
Susy tied a string about her waist for a girdle, stuck the whip into it, and began to march the floor with great dignity.
"Now school has begun. You must all come in, and bow 'way down to the ground, and say, 'O, respected teacher, grant us knowledge.' They are very polite in India.—All but Prudy, she may stay behind and play truant."
The three pupils came forward, touched their foreheads to the floor, and repeated the sentence as directed, Johnny rendering it,—
"O, respectful Susy Parlin, don't you whip me!"—at the same time turning a somerset.
"I forgot one thing," said the teacher, as her obedient pupils stood upright again, with flushed faces. "You ought to have brought me a present, every one of you, such as a fig of tobacco rolled up in a banana leaf, or—"
"We didn't know you chewed," said Florence, laughing.
"Now you take your seats. No, not there! On the floor! What do you suppose? You're in India, children. There are mats on the floor (we'll pretend)."
The children seated themselves.
"O, we ought to say a prayer to the Muse; but I can't remember what it is. No matter. Multiplication Table comes next. Mother says it's just the same thing in India that it is in America."
The school repeated part of the table, making very absurd mistakes intentionally. Susy walked the floor like a general. "Angeline, please look up some more palm-leaf fans, and some splinters of wood."
Angeline was the soul of good nature, and left her baking to hunt in the meal-room for the fans.
"A pretty kind of school!" growled Johnny. "Don't they do anything out there in Hindoo but just fan themselves?"
"O, we pretend these fans are green, just off the trees. We are studying arithmetic, all so fast, and ciphering on these leaves with reeds—(that's our splinters). Indian boys don't know what slates are. They think these leaves are good enough. They come off of the tallest palm trees. Fans don't grow in this country. Where did you ever see a leaf as broad as this?"
"Poh, plenty of 'em in Kennebec County!" said Johnny, confidently.
"Now," said the teacher, after a few moments of mock arithmetic, "now I've looked at my watch, and find it's seven o'clock. Howconscionablelate! And that Drop of Honey hasn't come to school yet! Joggo, you and Young Beauty go and bring her!"
Prudy, who was sitting at a little distance, under a swing-table, eating ginger snaps, was suddenly seized upon by the two little Indian constables.
"Why, what an idea!" said Prudy, with her mouth full; "I didn't know that was the way to play it."
"Yes," said Susy, "truants must come to school. If they don't come they must be arrested."
"Why, I'vebeen a-restingall the time," said Prudy, laughing.
"Well, that doesn't make any difference, Miss Honey Drop," said Johnny, taking her by the shoulders, while Dotty dragged her feet. There was great laughing and scrambling, during which Prudy swallowed a crumb the wrong way, and was finally carried into school on a litter.
"Now, I should judge," said the heartlessteacher, looking sternly at the crimson-faced victim, "I should judge that this wicked creature ought to have a terrific whipping!"
"That's so!" shouted Johnny; "we found Honey Drop top of a house, firing mud into a man's eyes."
"Yes, so we did," said Dotty, fully restored to good humor, "black mud; Honey's a bad Nindian. If you can't whip her hard enough, Joggie will help."
"There, now!" said the teacher, after dealing several "love-pats" with great pretended force; "now I should think 'twas time for school to be out. As you go by me, each of you, I must strike you just as many times as you were minutes late. Now go home, and eat rice for your dinners."
"Well, I don't think it's much of a play, any way," said Johnny.
"Who said it was?" retorted Florence."Susy and I didn't want to come down; we did it just to please you."
"Pleaseme!" sniffed Johnny. "Iwanted to play poison, out in the yard!"
"I do wish," thought Susy, privately, "that cousin Flossy would be more polite to little Johnny. I really think he wouldn't be so rude if she would treat him as a lady should."
"There's another play we used to have," said Prudy, "where you sit round on the floor, right among the dishes, and eat your supper."
"Well, I declare for it," said Angeline, "those people off there do need missionaries more than ever I thought they did."
"Yes," replied Susy, "they tell such horrid stories to their little children. The children don't dare go out after dark, for they suppose there are demons up in thehigh trees, just ready to dart down and whisk them off."
"Angeline tells just such stories herownself," said Dotty.
"Then she's a heathen," said Florence, who usually spoke the first thought that came into her head.
"If that's the case," retorted Angeline, with dignity, "you'd better all walk out of this kitchen before you are entirely ruined."
As Angeline was evidently in earnest, the children slowly took their way into the dining-room.
"Are there real live ghosts, though, Susy?" asked Dotty, anxiously; "and if a bird comes to the window will you die?"
"Why, no, indeed, child! Mother told me once, when I was right little, that I mustn't let people tell me such foolishstories. If Angeline talks so to you, you must stop your ears. Now, remember!"
Dotty remembered; but she was not quite convinced. Those awful stories might be true, after all; perhaps Susy didn't know.
You begin to see how the children were running wild at Mrs. Eastman's. One morning Dotty climbed the hat-tree to get away from her cousin Percy.
"Don't believe 'cousin Dimple' knows a hat-tree wasn't made for little girls to sit on," said Percy.
"No, 'twas made to swing on," replied Dotty, tilting herself backward and forward like a bird on a bough. "I'm going to stay here till somebody carries me off pick-aback."
Percy, having nothing better to do, tookhis little cousin on his shoulders, danced her about the hall and through the house, and finally tossed her backward into a pile of shavings. Dotty sprang up, shook off the shavings, and ran after Percy, laughing so boisterously that Angeline said to the chambermaid,—
"I know of one person that will be glad when Mrs. Parlin gets back."
"And I know of another," replied Janey. "The child behaved like a lady when she first came; but what can you expect in this house with those boys?"
"How's that bird?" said Percy, as he and Dotty raced through the kitchen. "Can he stand on both legs yet?"
"Yes, indeed! He could stand onthreelegs if he had 'em. He's most well—I must go and 'tend to him."—("I wonder what's going to happen that's bad,"thought she, as she fed the bird in her own chamber with cream biscuit. "I hope it isn't a fire!")—"Why, Johnny Eastman, I shouldn't think your mamma'd let you scream so loud!"
"Then you must hear the first time. Come, let's go out and have some fun; mother's gone to Cumberland."
As if Johnny did not have fun all day, and every day, whether his mother was at home or abroad!
"Prudy," said Dotty, "good by, for Johnny 'n' I are going down to the beach to get some shells."
Prudy looked up from her writing.
"Don't go near the water," said she; then throwing her arms about her little sister, she sang,—
"If you love me as I love you,No knife shall cut our love in two."
"If you love me as I love you,No knife shall cut our love in two."
"Well, I do," replied Dotty, with an affectionate hug, "and I sha'n't go near the water."
"You won't forget?" said Prudy, anxiously. "You know mamma's as afraid of the water as she can be."
"What are you after?" cried Angeline, half a minute afterwards. "Of all the rummaging children!" At the same time she gave Dotty a nice cake warm from the oven.
"I'm looking for my hat," said the little girl, shutting the sink door. "Last time I saw it 'twas in a barrel somewhere."
But it happened to be in a hogshead.
"I think this is a real nice sort of world," thought Dotty, as she and Johnny trudged off in the pleasant sunshine. "I do think, just to myself—though I wouldn't say itout loud—that I'm as nice as anybody. I don't know what Prudy'd do 'thout me; and I guess Susy'd cry her eyes out!"
"What you thinking about?" said Johnny.
"O, 'bout a good many things! Let's run; it tires me to pieces to walk!"
"Look!" cried Johnny, "there's Mandoline!"
And such a pretty sight as bareheaded Mandoline presented! She was a little Jewess, with such beauty, perhaps, as that of the women we read about in the Bible. She had dark, wavy hair, like sea-foam with ink tipped over in it. Her eyes were like gems; there was a brilliant color in her cheeks, and her mouth was so sweet that
"Upon her lip the honey beeMight build her waxen throne."
"Upon her lip the honey beeMight build her waxen throne."
Dotty did not know why she liked Mandoline so well, but like her she did. Mrs. Parlin was afraid Mandoline had not been taught to respect the truth, and had often desired her little daughter not to play with the beautiful Jewess.
But "Lina" went to Mrs. Eastman's, and Mrs. Eastman petted her. Dotty thought it could not be wrong to associate with a little girl her auntie liked so well.
"Come with us, Lina," said Johnny.
"Where are you going?"
"Going to make a Bunger Hill Monuement," replied Dotty. "We know where the shells grow real thick."
"But I've lost my shaker. A dog's got it."
"O, no matter,youdon't care," said Dotty, in a grandmotherly tone, "forIwon't let anybody laugh at you."
Lina yielded. The three children tripped along together, taking up Freddy Jackson on the way—a deaf and dumb boy, who only knew when it thundered by the jar he could feel. Everybody was kind to Freddy. Dotty Dimple, with all her faults, was never known to be impatient with the poor boy.
The children reached the sea-shore, whichwassomewhere "near the water," though Dotty had assured Prudy to the contrary. Shell-gathering is more exciting work than picking strawberries in the country; for strawberries are all very much alike, whereas shells present some variety.
But in this instance it was very dull business, for the reason that there were no shells to be found. They had all become weary of groping about in the sand, whenJohnny looked at the bay, and observed a boy coming towards them, rowing a boat.
"Hilloa, there!" shouted the boy.
"Hilloa!" responded Johnny. "If that isn't Sol Rosenberg!" (This was Mandoline's brother.) "Where you going, Sol?"
"Nowhere particular. Get in and go too?"
"Yes," said Johnny, "Fred Jackson and I. Fred can steer as straight's a needle. I'll paddle, you know."
"Girls too," added Solomon, gallantly.
With one accord the children walked eagerly towards the boat, which, by this time, Solomon had moored against the beach. All but Dotty.
"Are you old enough, Solly Rosenberg, old enough and know enough not to drown us all to pieces?"
Young Solomon laughed.
"If I can't manage a small concern like this!"
"But four, and one more, makefive, Solly!"
"You don't say so! Well, I could carry sixteen, if they were all such little snips as you are!"
"Dot Parlin thinks she weighs as much as two tons," said Johnny, in an irritating tone.
"I'm dreadful 'fraid," murmured the little Jewess, shaking the wayward hair out of her magnificent eyes; "but I'll go if you will, Dotty Dimple."
Dotty shoved her feet into the sand and reflected.
"My mamma is afraid of the water; but then she was upset in a scursion, and that's why she's afraid."
"What kind of thing is ascursion?" asked Johnny.
"A Sabbath school picnic. And she wasn't upset either, only she 'xpected to be."
"Come on!" called Solly. "All aboard!"
"But my mamma said it wasn't safe!"
"No, she didn't. She never saw this boat; she doesn't know whether it's safe or not."
"Doesn't it leak a single speck, Solly Rosenberg? It looks wet."
"Pshaw! That's where the waves come in; it's as tight as the bark to a tree."
Dotty was becoming very eager to go. It sometimes did seem, when she really wished to do any particular thing, that she wished it more than any one else.
"But, O dear! my mamma doesn't 'low me to sail."
This was spoken sorrowfully; but there was a little wavering in the tone. Dotty had taken the first false step; she had listened to the voice of temptation, and every persuasive word of Solly's left her weaker than it had found her.
"My mamma doesn'tever'low me to sail."
"Youcouldn'tsail in a wherry if you were to try," said Johnny. "Come, Sol, don't stop to bother: who wants girls? They just spoil the fun."
"For shame!" said the more polite Solomon, drawing himself up and looking very manly; "the girls shall go if they want to. Only just round the curve."
Dotty liked Solly at that moment very much. She looked at her ill-mannered little cousin with royal disdain, and walkedslowly and cautiously on towards the boat. Lina followed at a little distance.Hermother had also forbidden her to go on the water, and had declared that Solomon was too young to manage a boat; but neither Lina nor her brother had very tender consciences. If they did wrong things, and nobody knew it, it was all very well; but if they were found out—ah! then was the time to be sorry! Dotty's conscience had been much better educated than theirs: it gave her plenty of warning, which she would not heed, and tried to stifle by talking.
"It isn't a sail boat. When my mamma went in the scursion, then it was a sail boat, and the wind whistled so the sails shook dreadfully. My mamma never talked to me about wherries; she didn't ever say I mustn't go in a wherry."
While Dotty was still talking, she entered the boat, the last of the five. She seated herself, but was annoyed to find her dainty gaiters sinking into a pool of dirty water. She lifted her feet, but could not keep them up. Well, perhaps she shouldn't have the sore throat after all; she couldn't help it now if she did have it. At any rate she was determined not to complain, when Solly had been so very polite.
"Isn't this prime?" said Johnny, as they launched out upon the water.
The motion was certainly pleasant, and for a few moments Dotty was quite delighted, thinking over and over again,—
"Mamma won't care; it's nothing but a wherry, and the wind doesn't blow."
Then she suddenly remembered her promise to Prudy, not to go "anywhere near the water."
"And I never thought I should. I never s'posed I should see Solly Rosenberg. I didn't know he was in this city. Prudy'd like it just as well as I do, if she was in here, and knew 'twas a wherry."
Yes, no doubt Prudy would have liked it if her mother had approved; for then she could have gone with a clear conscience, and also without fear. But Prudy had suffered in her short life a great deal of what we call "discipline," and had learned pretty thoroughly the lesson of obedience. She knew it is never of the least use for little girls, or any one else, to expect to be happy in the wrong way.
"Straight is the line of duty,Curved is the line of beauty;Follow one, and thou shalt seeThe other ever following thee."
"Straight is the line of duty,Curved is the line of beauty;Follow one, and thou shalt seeThe other ever following thee."
This means, when put into child's English, that if we try above everything else to have a good time, we never have it; but if we try first of all to do right, then the good time will come of itself. Dotty certainly had not tried to do right: now we will see if that beautiful "curved line" of happiness followed her.
She was very young, or she would have known better than to trust herself on the ocean with a little boy like Solly Rosenberg, even if her mother had not forbidden it: but Dotty was rash; her bold spirit never feared danger.
If she, or any of the rest of the party, had only looked at the sky! But if they had, I dare say they would have made nothing of it. There were clouds scudding about up there like shadowy sail-boats, and the sun had to fight his way through them,till by and by he gave it up entirely, and never so much as peeped out. By that time it was decidedly bad weather; the light had to be sifted through heavy gray curtains.
This made such a difference with the appearance of everything! The world, which had looked, an hour ago, so gay and light-hearted, was now rather gloomy. The waves, instead of sparkling, only foamed and bubbled; indeed they grew larger every moment, for the wind was blowing a gale. The white sea-gulls hovered over the bay, flapping their wings; and Dotty had never liked sea-gulls. She began to grow a very little uneasy.
"It was naughty forusto come," thought she, anxious to divide the sin with her companions; "weought to have minded our mothers."
If the sky had continued fair, it may beDotty would not have felt so guilty, though you and I know the weather had nothing to do with the sin; disobedience is disobedience always, whether it rains or shines.
The little Jewess grew very pale, said she was dizzy, and wished to change places with Dotty.
"Keep still, can't you, girls?" cried Johnny; "if you fuss round so the boat'll be sure to upset."
Johnny looked as dignified as if he had navigated ships across the Atlantic Ocean over and over again; but then, alas! his arms were so little! I suppose his paddle had nearly as much effect as if it had been an iron spoon; and he probably knew as much about boating as he did about the dead languages. Solly and Freddy were several years older, and considerably wiser; but the wisdom of all these five children, if ithad been compounded together, would not have amounted to the wisdom of the three wise men of Gotham who went to sea in a bowl.
"O, dear!" screamed Dotty.
"O, dear! dear!dear!" cried Lina; "the water rolls in over the top!"
"Can't you steer for the shore, Solly Rosenbug?" said Dotty.
"You hadn't oughter made us come," sobbed Lina.
Johnny joined the mournful chorus.
"There goes my hat! You were in pretty business knocking it off my head, Dot Dimple!"
"I never; and I didn't mean to," replied Dotty, too much subdued to retort with her usual spirit.
"Fish it out with the paddle," remarked Solly, coolly.
This was intended as a joke, for the hat was already bounding far, far away over the waste of waters. Dotty knew she should always be accused of losing it, though in her secret soul she was sure the wind had blown it off. But a new hat, as we all know, is a mere trifle when we have gone to sea in a bowl! The first thing we think of is how to get home.
"Ahem!" ejaculated Solly, at last, "if you are really afraid, Lina, I suppose we'd better go ashore!"
Lina clapped her hands. "O, do! do! do!"
"Yes, indeed," said Dotty; "and, Solly, don't you bumptoohard against the shore, 'cause 'twould spill us out."
It was very easy to talk about touching the shore: all the difficulty lay in being able to do it. Not that it was so very distant;indeed, it was in full sight, "so near, and yet so far!" If the wind had only been quiet, instead of "cracking its cheeks!" But, as it was, the boat rocked fearfully, and seemed to be blowing directly away from the land.
Solly and the deaf and dumb boy looked at each other with eyes which seemed to say,—
"The thing is coming to a pretty pass! Only you and I to manage this craft, and we neither of us know what we are about! But we'll keep a stiff upper lip, and make believe we do!"
"Why, Solly Rosenbug!" said Dotty, catching her breath, "you're going just the other way!"
"O, Solly Rosenberg," echoed Lina, "you're going the wrong way! There's the shore, off there!"
"Well, well," said Solly, his "stiff upperlip" very white, "we're coming round to it after a while: you just sit still."
"Yes," said Johnny, puffing very hard, and churning the foam with his paddle, as if he were whipping eggs with a beater, "yes, girls,weshall row round to it after a while,ifyou'll only keep still!"
I dare say Johnny thought the most of this commotion was made by his paddle. He was quite as consequential, in his way, as the fly who sat on a wagon-wheel, and said to the wagon, as it rattled down hill, "What a noise we make!"
"We wouldn't put for the shore at all," continued Johnny, "if it wasn't for you girls."
At that moment a remarkably high wave leaped over the side of the boat, and wet Johnny to the skin.
"Just enough wind to make it pleasant!" gasped the little fellow.
"O, dear! O, dear!" sighed the girls, in despair.
"Ugh! how my arms ache!" groaned Johnny, stopping to rub them. "Guess I wouldn't say much if I was nothing but a girl, and didn't have to paddle!"
"O, you needn't fuss with that paddle any longer, Johnny Eastman," said Solly, who had hitherto paid no heed to the little boy's vigorous but useless struggles; "you just drop it; it doesn't amount to anything."
"What! what!" cried Johnny, looking very much insulted. "How are you ever going to get ashore withoutME, I'd like to know?"
All this while the boys were growing crimson in the face from the gigantic efforts they made, and the girls very pale with fright. Solly kept repeating,—
"Don't you be afraid, girls!" but hisvoice faltered as he said it; and as for Freddy Jackson, the trembling of his mute lips was as eloquent as speech. The two boys might put on what blustering airs they pleased—it all amounted to nothing; there was more power in the wind than in the muscles of their small arms. The boat would not go near the shore: anywhere else but there. The sky grew more and more threatening, and the wind increased in force.
"We're going to be drow—drow—drownded!" screamed Dotty; "and I told you so: I knew it before! O, if Susy was here with a shingle!"
"We're going to be drownded!" cried Lina; "and, Solly Rosenberg, you hadn't oughter made me come!"
"And you told an awful, wicked story," struck in Dotty, "for, Solly Rosenberg, you said you's old enough to row, and you'renowhere near old enough; and, O! O! O! you don't know how. And I'll tell my father! And he'll never know where I am! And my mother's gone away to aunt Maria Clifford's, and I'm going to be dead when she gets back! And you won'ttryto row!Susycould row if she was here, and had a shingle. But Susy isn't here, and hasn't any shingle! O! O!"
All these sentences Dotty thrust out, one after another, having little idea what she said, only conscious of an overwhelming terror and an impulse to keep talking.
Suddenly poor Solly Rosenberg dropped his oar, exclaiming,—
"There, it's of no use; my arms are giving out!"
Freddy Jackson held out a few moments longer, then dropped his oar also, with a look of utter hopelessness.
In the Boat.In the Boat.—Page 93.
In the Boat.—Page 93.
"Why don't you keep a pullin', boys?" said Johnny, dipping in his useless little paddle.
The boat whirled about like an egg-shell, completely at the mercy of the waves. If your papa and mamma had seen it, they would have said there was the last of Dotty Dimple. But, on second thought, you may be sure it was not the last of her; for if she was going to be drowned in the sixth chapter, I should never have written this book.
It was a wonderful mercy that the five rash childrenwerespared; but life is full of just such mercies; and of course I knew all the while what was coming, or I could not have written so cheerfully.
Whatwas coming?
"I see something," shouted Dotty, "ever so far off! It isn't a gull!"
"It's a sail! a sail!" cried Solly, and took to his oars again.
"A sail! a sail!" thought Freddy Jackson, though he could not say it; and he steered once more, with courage renewed; though, as to that matter, it would have been just as well if they had kept still.
By the time the sail-boat came up to the wherry, the children were thoroughly drenched and sobered. A more subdued set of little sailors the captain had never seen.
"Well, now," said he, patting the little girls on the head, "I had a fine lecture made up for you crazy chickens; but you are all so meek, that I reckon I'll just take you on board, and not scold you till I get you ashore."
It was the narrowest escape! and they all knew it. The "foolish chickens" hid their heads, and made mental resolves that they would never, never venture out ofsight of land again without some older person to take care of them.
"Don't you tell my father, now," said Johnny to Dotty, as they went home, dripping like a pair of sea-bathers.
"Nor don't you tell mine, nor Susy, nor Prudy, neither."
"We shall have to make up some kind of a story," added Johnny, reflectively. "I don't know but we reached over too far after sea-shells, didn't we, and fell into the bay?Youdid (say), and I got in after you, and pulled you out by your hair."
"Why, Johnny!"
"Well, then, you didn't;Ifell in, and you pulledmeout—by the boots; only my boots would have come off, though, they're so big!"
"O, Johnny Eastman!"
Dotty had stopped short in the road, andwas looking at her cousin with an expression of mingled pity and scorn.
"Then make up something better to suit yourself."
"I don't make up stories, I just hope I don't," returned Dotty, squeezing the skirt of her dress indignantly.
"But," said Johnny, "they'll know it wasn't all rain-water."
"Then I shall tell the whole, whole truth," exclaimed Miss Dimple, setting her feet down so firmly that the water made a gurgling noise in her boots. "I'll tell how you boys teased us girls to go."
"O, ho, Dot Dimple! that's as much of a story as pulling out by the hair!Ididn't want you to go. I tried to stop it."
"Yes, I know it, and that was why I went," said Dotty, gravely! "I wasn't going to have you say I mus'n't! Ifyou'd beenwilling, I shouldn't have gone a step."
By this time they had reached Mr. Eastman's gate.
"You tell if you dare!" said Johnny. And, after that, Dotty never thought any longer of trying to conceal a single item of their remarkable adventure. Since Johnny had dared her, she wouldcertainlytell.
Dotty saw her father through the window. She had not supposed it was dinner-time. Her head, which she had just been tossing so proudly, was suddenly lowered, and she entered the house with "faint-footed fear," and stole noiselessly up stairs, leaving wet tracks on the elegant carpet. She did not wish to meet her father while she was in such a plight.
"O, Prudy!" she called out, "something has happened!"
But Prudy was not within hearing. Angeline had given her permission to peel the potatoes for dinner, and she was now inthe kitchen, quite unconscious of her little sister's forlorn situation. Hatless Johnny had crept around by the back door, and put himself under the care of Jane, the chambermaid. Janey was very kind-hearted, and withal a little weak-minded. She had often helped Johnny out of his predicaments, receiving in return plenty of kisses and sugar-plums.
But who was going to help Dotty? She did not know where to look for dry garments; for, since her mother went away, her own clothes, and those of her two sisters, had been tossed together in sad confusion. She did not like to go to Susy, for Susy would probably scold; and Dotty, just now, was so uncomfortable, and her nerves had been so terribly racked, that she thought she could bear anything better than to be blamed.
"O, dear! where in this world was Prudy?"
She fidgeted about, trying to find she knew not what. Then she remembered she had herself locked the trunk, to hide away some almond candy from the other girls. Where she had put the key she did not know.
The dinner-bell rang, and still Prudy did not appear.
"I believe she does itto purpose," thought Miss Dimple, pulling out the bureau drawers in great haste, and scattering their contents right and left.
"Seem's if I should freeze, but I don't s'pose she cares. I don't want any dinner. If Prudy'd bring me up a piece of pudding, I'd eat it; but she won't, nor pie either."
By this time Dotty had nearly forgotten that all her misery was the result of herown misconduct. She would remember it by and by with renewed shame; but, just now, she had somehow shifted the blame upon innocent Prudy, forgetting that that dear little sister did not even know she was in the house.
"And I sha'n't eat any supper," continued the shivering Dotty. "I wonder how many dinners and suppers 'twould take to starve folks to death? Prudy said she loved me; but if she does, why don't she come up here, and get me some clean clothes?"
Meanwhile, at the dinner-table down stairs, there were three places empty. Mrs. Eastman had gone to Cumberland, and Susy told her father that Johnny and Dotty were away somewhere at play. It was such a careless household, and the meals were so irregular, that Mr. Parlin had several times missed Dotty at table.He did not pay any more attention than usual to her absence to-day, but thought, with a feeling of relief,—
"Her mother will soon be at home, and then I shall feel very much easier about Alice and the other children."
If Mr. Parlin had only known that Dotty was shivering up stairs in wet clothes, he might not have lingered so long over his ice-cream. As it was, he chatted leisurely with Mr. Eastman, put on his hat, and walked away, saying to Susy, in a low voice, as he passed her in the hall,—
"My daughter, while I am so busy, and your mother is gone, I wish you would pay more attention to your little sister Alice. I am really afraid she is running wild."
"Yes, sir," replied Susy, with a swift pang of conscience; for she now recollected that it was seldom she even knew whereDotty was, her mind being wholly absorbed by play and fancy-work.
At this moment Johnny appeared, fresh from a bath, and dressed in a clean suit.
"Where is Dotty?" asked Susy, rather surprised by Johnny's tidy array.
"Dot? O, she's in the house somewhere. She came home when I did."
Johnny spoke very carelessly. He was anxious that no one should suppose anything unusual had occurred.
Susy and Prudy went up stairs in search of their missing sister. They found her in her own room, sitting down disconsolately in the middle of the floor.
"Why, Dotty Dimple, where have you been? Howdidyou get so wet?"
No answer.
"Have you been trying to swim?" laughed Prudy, going up and stroking her forehead.
"Prudy Parlin, why didn't you come up here before?" was the sudden response. "I called you and called you.—Where'd you put my clo'es?"
"Why, Dotty, dear, I didn't know you were in the house; and I never touched your clothes."
"Yes, you did. I can't find the key. I'm going to freeze. You don't care. You never brought me a speck of pudding. I'm sick, and going to have the sore throat. I wouldn't eat it now if the mayor was right in this room—so there!"
Nothing could exceed the dreariness of Dotty's tone. Susy, though by no means unfeeling, could scarcely refrain from laughing at the child's unreasonableness; but Prudy, who "was exceeding wise" in reading the heart, knew that Dotty's anger was not very real; that it was partly assumed tohide her wretchedness. Therefore patient Prudy resolved to bear with the sharp words, believing Dotty would be pleasant by and by, when she felt comfortable.
After some delay in hunting, she and Susy dressed the child in fresh clothes. Then Dotty consented to eat a little dinner, and go into her grandma Read's room, to sit on the lounge.
"This little girl doesn't look well," said grandma Read, the first moment; "her cheeks are altogether too red. Where has thee been to-day, Alice?"
"Been down to the beach, picking shells, grandma," replied Dotty, looking hard at the carpet.
"O, where are the shells?" said Prudy.
"I'm sure I don't know; I didn't find any. I didn't come back the same way I went," replied Dotty, twirling her favorite lock of hair over her finger.
"Didn't come back the same way?"
"No, I went wherrying."
"Wherrying?" repeated Prudy.
"Yes, that's what I said."
"Prudence, what does thee suppose the child means?" said grandma Read, taking off her spectacles, and fixing her kind eyes steadily upon Dotty Dimple.
"Wherrying in a wherry," answered Dotty, dryly.
"Does thee mean in a boat?"
"Why no, grandma. It looks like a boat, but it isn't; it's a wherry."
"Who allowed thee to go on the water?"
"Nobody."
"Did thee think thee was doing right?"
"No'm."
"Who rowed the boat?"
"Some boys—two—and Johnny, grandma."
"Hasn't thy mother told thee not to go on the water?"
"She said I mus'n't sail, and I never. Iwherried."
"Why, Dotty Parlin," said Prudy, "you'll scare me so I'll never get my breath again! You didn't go off on that bay with some boys?"
"Yes, I did," replied Dotty, trying to look defiant. "Youwouldn't have dared to, Prudy."
"Thee may get in my lap, Alice, and tell me all about it," said grandma Read, laying down her knitting-work.
Dotty curled herself into a little heap in her grandmother's arms.
"My head aches," said she, "and I love to lay it against your softkerjif."
"Well, dear, so thee may. Now, tell me what made thee go on the water?"
"'Cause, 'cause, grandma, Solly Rosenbug asked me to go, and Johnny tried to make menotgo. I asked Solly was he old enough, and knew enough, and he said he did; but he didn't any such thing. And grandma, there it was, right in the middle of the solid water! And began to spin and dance round. We couldn't stop it from dancing; the more we held on, the quicker it went. Way up and down, grandma, and the rain raining, and our feet all sopping, and pouring right into that wherry like a—a catara-duct. They were all afraid but me, and I was awful afraid too. You see I thought we should tip right over, and I didn't want to be drowned, and couldn't swim."
"Why, Dotty, how you make me tremble!" cried Prudy.
"The way Johnny paddled!" continuedDotty, triumphantly. "Sollysaidhe couldn't. I could have paddled better, only I didn't dare to."
"Youpaddle!"
"No, I didn't. The wind blew me so I couldn't; 'twas much's ever I kept in the wherry. I had to hold on to Lina, too; she was just as 'fraid!"
Here grandma Read pressed Dotty close to her heart, as if she wished to make sure the child was really alive.
"'He gave his angels charge concerning thee,'" murmured she. "Tell me, child, how thee ever got to the shore."
"O, the captain took us in a sail-boat! He called us crazy chickens, but said he didn't scold. I was the first one that saw the sail; and then Solly rowed us to it, and it took us in, just as wet as ever was. Johnny lost that paddle. So we got home; and, O, how my head aches!"
"What a strange, strange child to tell a story!" said grandma Read, shaking her head. "But I've seen thee before. I understand thy odd ways. Thee is deeply ashamed of such wicked conduct—that I am very sure. Thee must be aware, Alice, that it is only by the Lord's mercy thee is safe on dry land, instead of being drowned in the depths of the sea."
Dotty shuddered, and curled her crimson face more closely against the white kerchief.
"But I will not chide thee now. Thy mother will do what is right and proper when she comes home. But now thee must have a bowl of ginger tea, and go straight to bed."
Dotty made no objection. Indeed she was glad to find herself tucked warmly under blankets and coverlets, for shewas still chilly, and her head grew worse continually. It was also a great relief to her that she had told the whole story. She knew her father would be sorely displeased; but he had never punished her in his life, and it was not likely he would do it now, while her head ached so dreadfully.
She wasn't going to tell anybody how sorry she was; but she had made up her mind to this—that she would neverlookat salt water again as long as she lived.
"O, dear!" thought Dotty, as she lay through the long afternoon, wakeful and feverish, "I should think there was a drum inside o' my head, and somebody was pounding on it,—tummy, tum, tum."
Grandma had said it was best to leave her alone, in the hope that she might fall asleep. But the sleep would not come, though dreams did, one after another, like pictures in a panorama.
When she shut her eyes, she could see a little red boat rocking on the water like a cradle; then a great wave would dash against it, and turn it over, with all its passengers. The screaming sea-gulls seemed to be looking far down into the water in search of the sinking children; but the children could not look up to see the gulls, for their eyes were closed, and they were "drowned in the depths of the sea."
Dotty tried to shut out these horrid pictures. If her dear mamma were only here to talk to her, and lay a cool hand on her head—that mamma she had just disobeyed! Then Dotty repeated some verses she had learned long ago:—