Nautilus | Page 7

him, sir? Have you ever been here before?"
The Skipper shook his head. "Not of my life!" he said. "Yet--I make a
guess at the name; perhaps of this gentleman I have heard. He--he is a
kind person, Colorado?"
John hung his head. He knew that he must not speak evil; his mother
had always told him that; yet what else was there to speak about Cousin
Scraper? "He--he collects shells!" he faltered, after a pause, during
which he was conscious of the Skipper's eyes piercing through and
through him, and probably seeing the very holes in his stockings. But
now the Skipper threw back his head with a laugh.
"He collects shells, eh? My faith, I have come to the right place, I with
my 'Nautilus.' See, young gentleman! I go with my shells where I think
is good market. In large cities, many rich people who collect shells. I
sell many, many, some very precious. Never have I come up this river
of great beauty; but I say, who knows? Maybe here are persons who
know themselves, who have the feeling of shells in their hearts. I find,
first you, Colorado; and that you have the feeling in your heart I see, at
the first look you give to my pretties here. That you have the fortune to
live with a collector, that I could not guess, ha? He is kind, I say, this
Scraper? He loves you as a son, he gives you his shells to look at, to
care for as your own?"
John hung his head again.
"He keeps them locked up," he admitted. "I never had one in my hand,
except the one on the mantelpiece, sometimes when he goes to sleep

after dinner. I--I must be going now!" he cried in desperation, making
his way to the gang-plank. "I must get home, or he'll--"
"What he will do?" the Skipper inquired, holding the plank in his hand.
"What he do to you, young gentleman, eh? A little scold you, because
you stay too long to talk with the Skipper from the Bahamas, hey? No
more than that, is it not?"
"He'll beat me," cried little John, driven fairly past himself. "He beats
me every time I'm late, or don't get my work done. I thank you ever so
much for being so kind, but I can't stay another minute."
"Adios, then, Señor Colorado!" said the Skipper, with a stately bow.
"You come soon again, I pray you. And if you will tell Sir Scraper, and
all those others, your friends, the shell schooner is here. Exhibition in a
few hours ready, free to all. Explanation and instruction when desired
by intelligent persons desiring of to know the habits under the sea.
Schooner 'Nautilus,' from the Bahamas, with remarkable collection of
shells and marine curiosities. Adios, Señor Juan Colorado!"
CHAPTER III.
A GREAT EXHIBITION.
Little John was not the one to spread the tidings of the schooner's
arrival. He had to take his whipping,--a hard one it was!--and then he
was sent down into the cellar to sift ashes, as the most unpleasant thing
that could be devised for a fine afternoon. But the news spread, for all
that. John was not the only boy in the village of Tidewater, and by
twelve o'clock every man, woman and child was talking about the new
arrival; and by two o'clock, the dinner dishes being put away, and the
time of the evening chores still some hours off, nearly every man,
woman and child was hastening in the direction of the wharf. Of course
the boys were going. It was vacation time, and what else should boys
do but see all that was to be seen? And of course it was the duty of the
elders to see that the children came to no harm. So the fathers were
strolling leisurely down, saying to each other that 'twas all nonsense,
most likely, and nothing worth seeing, but some one ought to be

looking out that the boys and the women folks didn't get cheated. The
mothers were putting on their bonnets, in the serene consciousness that
if anyone was going to be cheated it was not they, and that goodness
knew what those men-folks would be up to on that schooner if they
were left to themselves. And the little girls were shaking the pennies
out of their money boxes, or if they had no boxes, watching with eager
eyes their more fortunate sisters. Truly, it was a great day in the village.
The Skipper welcomed one and all. He stood by the gang-plank, and
Franci stood by him, cap in hand, smiling in a beautiful way. On the
rail were perched two little monkeys, their arms round each other's
shoulders, their bright eyes watching with eager curiosity