Marjories Busy Days | Page 3

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 to the desert island only an hour before, it was not impossible that she might find some more, so they let her go to make search. She returned with a paper bag of crackers and another of pears.
"These are bread fruit," she announced, showing the crackers; "and these are wild pears. This is indeed a fruitful island, and we're lucky to be wrecked on such a good one."
"Lucky, indeed!" agreed the Captain. "Why, when I discovered those eggs on a rocky ledge, I knew at once they were gulls' eggs."
"And how fortunate that they're boiled," said Kitty. "I can't bear raw eggs."
The shipwrecked sufferers then spread out their food, and sat down to a pleasant meal, for the