Marjories Busy Days | Page 3

panting for breath. "I've swum
till I'm exhausted. Must I drown!" With a wail, she turned on her eyes
on the grass, and closing her eyes, prepared to sink beneath the waves.
"Do not despair," urged Kingdon, as he grasped her arm. "Perhaps we
can find a plank or a raft. Or perhaps we can yet swim ashore."
"How many survivors are we?" asked Marjorie, sitting up in the water
and looking about.
"Four," responded Kitty; "but I won't swim. It makes my dress all
greeny, and stubs my shoes out."
Kitty was the only Maynard who was finicky about her clothes. It
called forth much derision from her elder brother and sister, but she
stood firm. She would play their plays, until it came to "swimming"
across grass and earth, and there she rebelled.
"All right," said Kingdon, good-naturedly, "you needn't. There's a raft,"
pointing to what had been the gangplank. "Cannot you and your infant
daughter manage to get ashore on that? This other lady is an expert
swimmer, and I think she can reach land, while Buffalo Bill will, of
course, save himself."
"Me save myself!" exclaimed Rosy Posy, gleefully. She had no

objections to swimming on land, and throwing her fat self down flat,
kicked vigorously, and assisted Boffin to swim by her side.
Kitty and Arabella arranged themselves on the raft, which Kitty
propelled by a series of hitches. The shipwrecked sufferers thus made
their way toward the desert island. There were several narrow escapes
from drowning, but they generously assisted each other, and once when
Kitty fell off her raft, the noble Captain offered to take Arabella on his
own broad and stalwart back.
Buffalo Bill frequently forgot she was in the tossing ocean, and walked
upright on her own fat legs.
But King said she was only "treading water," go that was all right.
At last they sighted land, and by a mighty effort, and much encouraging
of one another, they managed to reach the shore of the island.
Exhausted, Marjorie threw herself on the beach, and the half-drowned
Captain also dragged himself up on dry land. Kitty skilfully brought her
raft ashore, and stepped out, exclaiming: "Saved! But to what a fate!"
This was one of their favorite lines, and Marjorie weakly opened her
eyes to respond:
"Methinks I shall not see to-morrow's sun!"
"Hist!" whispered Kingdon, "say no word, lady. There may be
cannibals here!"
"Tannibals!" cried Buffalo Bill. "I 'ike Tannibals. Where is zey?"
Somewhat revived, Kingdon began to look round the desert island to
see what its nature might be.
"We have escaped one terrible death!" he declared, "only to meet
another. We must starve! This is a desert island exactly in the middle of
the Pacific Ocean. No steamers pass here; no sailing vessels or
ferryboats or,--or anything!"

"Oh! What shall we do?" moaned Kitty, clasping her hands in despair.
"My precious Arabella! Already she is begging for food."
"We must consider," said Marjorie, sitting up, and looking about her.
"If there is nothing else, we must kill the bear and eat him."
"No, no!" screamed Rosy Posy. "No, no eat my Boffin Bear."
"I will explore," said Kingdon. "Come, Buffalo Bill, we are the men of
this party, we will go all over the island and see what may be found in
the way of food. Perhaps we will find cocoanuts."
"Ess," said Buffalo Bill, slipping her little hand in her brother's, "an'
we'll take Boffin, so he won't get all killded."
"And while you're gone," said Marjorie, "we will dry our dripping
garments and mend them."
"Yes," said Kitty, "with needles and thread out of my bag. I brought a
big bag of all sorts of things, like Robinson Crusoe."
"That wasn't Robinson Crusoe," said King, "it was Mrs. Swiss
Robinson."
"Oh, so it was! Well, it doesn't matter, I brought the bag, anyway."
The two brave men went away, and returned in a surprisingly short
time with a surprising amount of food.
"These are cocoanuts," announced Kingdon, as he displayed four
oranges. "I had to climb the tall palm trees to reach them. But no
hardships or dangers are too great to assist fair ladies."
The fair ladies expressed great delight at the gallant Captain's deed, and
asked Buffalo Bill what she had secured.
"Edds," said Rosy Posy, triumphantly, and, sure enough, in her tiny
skirt, which she held gathered up before her, were three eggs and a
cracker.

The eggs were hard-boiled, and were promptly appropriated by the
three elder victims of the shipwreck, while the cracker fell to the share
of Buffalo Bill, who was not yet of an age to eat hard-boiled eggs.
"I, too, will make search!" cried Marjorie. "Methinks there may yet be
food which you overlooked."
As Marjorie had brought the food