Marjories Busy Days | Page 5

battle, the natives were all slain or
put to rout, and the conquerors, exhausted but triumphant, sat round
their camp-fire and boasted of their valorous deeds.
As noontime drew near, the settlers on the island began to grow hungry
again, and, strange to say, the imaginary birds they shot and ate were
not entirely satisfying.
Buffalo Bill, too, waked up, and demanded a jink of water.
But none could leave the island and brave the perils of the boundless
ocean, unless in a rescuing ship.
For a long time they waited. They waved their white flag, and they
even shouted for help.
But the "island" was at some distance from the house or street and none
came to rescue them.
At last, they saw a huge, white-covered wagon slowly moving along
the back drive.
"A sail! A sail!" cried the Captain. "What, ho! Help! Help!"
The other shipwrecked ones joined the cry, and soon the wagon drew a
little nearer, and then stopped.
"Help! Help!" cried the children in chorus.
It was the butcher's wagon, and they knew it well, but this season there
was a new driver who didn't know the Maynard children.
"What's the matther?" he cried, jumping from his seat, and running
across the grass to the quartette.
"We're shipwrecked!" cried Marjorie. "We can't get home. Oh, save us

from a cruel fate! Carry us back to our far-away fireside!"
"Help!" cried Kitty, faintly. "My child is ill, and I can no longer
survive!"
Dramatic Kitty sank in a heap on the ground, and the butcher's boy was
more bewildered than ever.
"Save me!" cried Rosy Posy, toddling straight to him, and putting up
her arms. "Save Buffaro Bill first,--me an' Boffin."
This was more intelligible, and the butcher's boy picked up the smiling
child, and with a few long strides reached his cart, and deposited her
therein.
"Me next! Me next!" screamed Marjorie. "I'm fainting, too!" With a
thud, she fell in a heap beside Kitty.
"The saints presarve us!" exclaimed the frightened Irishman. "Whativer
is the matther wid these childher? Is it pizened ye are?"
"No, only starving," said Marjorie, but her faint voice was belied by the
merry twinkle in her eyes, which she couldn't suppress at the sight of
the man's consternation.
"Aha! It's shammin' ye are! I see now."
"It's a game," explained Kingdon. "We're shipwrecked on a desert
island, and you're a passing captain of a small sailing vessel. Will you
take us aboard?"
"Shure, sir," said the other, his face aglow with Irish wit and
intelligence. "I persave yer manin'. 'Deed I will resky ye, but how will
ye get through the deep wathers to me ship forninst?"
"You wade over, and carry this lady," said King, pointing to Kitty, "and
the rest of us will swim."
"Thot's a foine plan; come along, miss;" and in a moment Kitty was

swung up to the brave rescuer's shoulder, while King and Midget were
already "swimming" across the grass to the rescue ship.
All clambered into the wagon, and the butcher drove them in triumph
to the back door. Here they jumped out, and, after thanking their kind
rescuer, they scampered into the house.
"Such a fun!" said Rosy Posy, as her mother bathed her heated little
face. "Us was all shipperecked, an' I was Buffaro Bill, an' Boffin was
my big wild bear!"
"You two are sights!" said Mrs. Maynard; laughing as she looked at the
muddied, grass-stained, and torn condition of Kingdon and Marjorie.
"I'm glad you had your play-clothes on, but I don't see why you always
have to have such rough-and-tumble plays."
"'Cause we're a rough-and-tumble pair, Mothery," said King; "look at
Kitty there! she kept herself almost spick and span."
"Well, I'm glad I have all sorts of children," said Mrs. Maynard. "Go
and get into clean clothes, and be ready for luncheon promptly on time.
I'm expecting Miss Larkin."
"Larky! Oh!" groaned Kingdon. "I say, Mothery, can't we--us children,
I mean--have lunch in the playroom?" He had sidled up to his mother
and was caressing her cheek with his far-from-clean little hands.
"No," said Mrs. Maynard, smiling as she kissed the brown fingers, "no,
my boy, I want all my olive-branches at my table to-day. So, run along
now and get civilized."
"Come on, Mops," said Kingdon, in a despairing tone, and, with their
arms about each other, the two dawdled away.
Kitty had already gone to Nurse to be freshened up. Kitty loved
company, and was always ready to put on her best manners.
But King and Midget had so much talking to do, and so many plans to

make, that they disliked the restraint that company necessarily put upon
their own conversation.
"I do detest old Larky," said the boy, as they went away.
"I don't mind