Little Tora, The Swedish Schoolmistress and Other Stories | Page 7

said the teacher,
glancing at the sand-boxes.--"Nils, climb up into the rafters and bring
down the oars."
Climbing to the rafters was a familiar exploit of Nils's. With one foot
on his desk and his knee to the wall, he swung himself up in a moment.
"Hand down my oars and yours," she said, as she pointed at the stilts;
for the little schoolmistress was a leader in the sports of her children,
and often enjoyed them as much as they did.
The stilts were duly secured, and then the order followed, "And now
the ropes for the launching," and another glance prompted the lowering
of the summer swings for their new use.
"Give out the clothes, Nils, and call the names of the children as usual,"
said the teacher. Those were no dainty little ones, accustomed to be
dressed like passive dolls by careful nurses or over-fond mammas.
They had but to receive their garments in the daily orderly way, and to
put them on as they well knew how. There might sometimes be an
obstinate string or button, but Nils was sure to be able to help in any
such difficulty, or even to tie a refractory kerchief over the light locks.

The children now put on their wrappings mechanically, lost in
watching the proceedings of the teacher and her obedient assistant.
The swings were cut in halves and attached to the strong handles of the
empty sand-boxes of olden times. "And now we must launch the
boats," said the teacher, with the nearest approach she could muster to
the manner of a bluff sea-captain.
"Heave ho!" shouted Nils, as he put his strong shoulders to the work of
moving the boats, while the mistress held on to the horses.
One by one the boats were put in what Tora deemed proper position,
the square prows curiously tilted up to the broad window-seat. Then
came the orders--"Climb to the top of the shutter, Nils! Pass that rope
round the upper hinge; tie it fast! Now the other rope on the lower
hinge. Right! The same with the other ropes--bind them fast to the
other shutter-hinges!"
Every order was promptly and skilfully obeyed.
"Nils, are you sure the boats are perfectly watertight?" said the mistress,
with, for the first time, a shadow of anxiety in her determined face.
"Tight as a bottle!" was the immediate reply. "We had them filled with
water for the last examination, to float the boats the children had made.
The ships and such like were here, and the row-boats and canoes in the
other."
"I saw them! I saw them all!" exclaimed a little chap, with great delight.
"My brother had the prize for his ship, and he made it every bit
himself." The eager memories that came to the minds of the children
were chatted about with an intensity that made the boats of the moment
to be almost for the time forgotten.
Now came the real launching of the boats. With a proper amount of
drawing in and letting out and holding fast on the part of Nils and the
teacher, the long boxes sat at last on the water like a pair of contented
swans.

"Get down into the boat you are to be captain of, and I will hand down
the oars for us both. Lay mine across my boat and yours across yours.
Your passengers are to come down first. There will be four for each of
us."
The little schoolmistress, putting on her coat and fur cap, backed up to
one of her little girls, saying, "Put your arms round my neck, and you
shall ride to the boat."
Two chubby arms went willingly round the neck of the teacher, as they
had done many a time before on a less momentous occasion. So the
little one, with her eyes away from the window, was backed up to it, to
be lifted down by Nils with a merry shout as he landed the first
passenger. The others followed in the same style, and all the eight were
cheerily deposited in high good-humour.
"Now I'll come down, too," said the schoolmistress, and she came
down the rope as if she were in a gymnasium. She took her place in the
centre of her boat, with two delighted children before her and two more
behind her.
"Cut loose, Nils! One rope as long as you can, and the other short up to
the stern; and then give me your knife, and I'll do the same for mine.
Now start, Nils! I'll follow."
The orders were rapidly given and promptly obeyed, and then the little
party started across the watery stretch that had taken the place of the
meadow.
Nils, with his strong arms, got on rapidly, and his boat was soon far