The Cruise of the Noahs Ark | Page 2

him aboard."
"Here, mates, bring me a life line," shouted Capt. Noah, and in less
time than I can take to tell it the line was thrown to the little dog, who
managed to catch hold of it with his teeth just in time, for the Ark was
going at a tremendous rate of speed.

"Don't haul in too fast," advised Capt. Noah, as his three sons began
pulling in the rope, "or he'll be drawn under the water and smothered
before we can get him aboard."
At last, the little dog was landed safely on the deck. Everybody ran
away from him to avoid getting a shower bath as he shook himself
again and again.
"Well, you've all proved to be brave lifesavers," said Mrs. Noah. "Now
I'll give him some warm milk and dry him by the kitchen fire, or he
may get a severe cold. Goodness knows what would happen if he gave
it to the other animals and they all got to sneezing and coughing at the
same time."
And then the good woman took the little dog down into the hold of the
Ark, where the pantry and kitchen were, and he was soon fast asleep by
the stove, none the worse for his wetting.
It was now time for supper, so Mrs. Noah busied herself preparing the
evening meal, while Capt. Noah and his three sons, Ham, Shem and
Japheth, fed the animals. This was not an easy matter, for each animal
had a different taste, and the fodder had to be carefully measured so as
to give each one enough and no more.
The elephant ate almost a bale of hay for each meal, and the lion ate
about twenty large Delmonico steaks.
"It's lucky we haven't a whale on board," said Capt. Noah, as he rolled
a bale of hay up to Mrs. Elephant, at the same time warning Ham not to
give the lion a sirloin steak by mistake.
"You might feed the pigs, too," he added, wiping his forehead with a
red-bordered handkerchief. "They seem to like you, Ham. I guess they
consider you one of the family!"
Marjorie thought the rabbits were very pretty, but just as she was about
to play a game of hide and go seek with them, the supper bell rang, and
as soon as the three Noah boys had washed their hands and combed

their hair they came to the table. Shem pulled out his mother's chair and
Ham politely helped Marjorie into hers.
It was all very interesting to the little girl, and when Mrs. Noah looked
over at her and said, in a motherly way, "I always wanted a little girl of
my own," Marjorie felt quite at home.
"Thank you, ma'am," she said, "but I think you have very nice boys!"
After the supper table was cleared and the dishes washed, Mrs. Noah
and Marjorie went up on deck, where they found Capt. Noah
contentedly smoking his pipe. The three boys were having a merry time
with the little dog. The rain had stopped and the sky was full of stars.
"I don't know how much of a rainfall we have had this time," said Capt.
Noah, "but it must have been pretty heavy, for there seems to be as
much water around as there was when it rained for 40 days and 40
nights."
And then, all of a sudden, a harsh, grating noise was heard and
everybody jumped up. "Have we struck a rock?" inquired Mrs. Noah
anxiously.
"I don't know," answered Capt. Noah, peering over the side. "I can't see
bottom."
Suddenly the Ark stopped altogether.
"Guess we're aground now, all right," said Japheth. "It's too dark to tell
much about it, though."
"No, it isn't!" cried a deep, gurgling voice, and their astonished eyes
saw the head of a whale rise above the bow.
"I have a passenger for you," continued the whale. "He doesn't like his
present mode of travel, so I'm going to ship him over to you."
"How do you know we want him?" inquired Capt. Noah, going forward
to investigate. "We have a pretty full house as things are. And, besides,

he might be a Jonah."
"That's just who he is!" spouted the whale, with a gleeful gurgle, and
before any one could say "Jack Robinson!" Mr. Jonah appeared upon
the deck of the Ark, and with a swish of his great tail the whale
disappeared in the darkness.
"Sorry if I am intruding," said Mr. Jonah apologetically, "but the truth
is it was so dark and uncomfortable inside that whale that I would have
had nervous prostration had I been obliged to remain there another
minute."
"Well," said Mrs. Noah, slowly, looking Mr. Jonah over and seeing that
he wasn't such a bad looking person,