The Cruise of the Noahs Ark | Page 6

the sand--in fact, we can have three rings if we want to.
All we have to do, you know, is to throw up the sand in a circle."
Every one agreed that it was an ideal spot, so the boys set to work at
once.
Mrs. Noah made Marjorie a wonderful dress, covered with gold
spangles.
"I'm going to ride the big white horse just like a circus rider," cried

Marjorie. "And I shall stand up on the saddle and jump through my
hoop. Ham can hold it."
"Of course I will," he cried, looking up from his work. "And I'll be jolly
glad when this ring is finished. I had no idea it would take so long."
"Hurrah! Mine's finished," cried Japheth.
"And so's mine," shouted Shem.
"Well, I think mine's the biggest of all," said Ham. "It must be, or I'd
have finished when you fellows did."
"Father ought to put on his dress suit," said Shem, "and snap the whip
when Marjorie rides around the ring. You know just the way they do in
the real circus."
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Capt. Noah, overhearing the remark as he
descended the gang-plank. "I didn't bargain for this. But I suppose I
might as well put it on," and he turned back into the Ark.
The sound of hammering at that moment reached them. "What's going
on?" asked Ham.
"Let's see," suggested Shem, but before they reached the gang-plank
Mr. Jonah appeared. On his legs were strapped a pair of stilts, which
made him at least eight feet high.
"I'm going to be the giant," he said with a laugh, bumping down the
gang-plank in a clumsy manner. "I say, Mrs. Noah, could you sew the
legs of an old pair of trousers on to mine, so the stilts won't show?"
"Of course I can," replied Mrs. Noah, bursting into laughter. "But I'm
afraid they won't match."
In due course of time Marjorie's circus dress was finished and the
giant's trousers lengthened, the upper part being blue and the lower part
gray, but perfectly satisfactory to the wearer.

Every one was now waiting impatiently for Capt. Noah when, suddenly,
his head appeared at one of the port holes. "Mother," he called, "where
are my white dress ties? I can't find them anywhere."
So Mrs. Noah laid down her work basket and went into the Ark to find
them. And in a few minutes Capt. Noah appeared in full dress, his silk
hat upon his head and a long whip in his hand.
As he came down the plank, Japheth led out the big white horse, and
after helping Marjorie to mount, led him into the center ring.
Shem then opened the big door in the Ark and all the animals solemnly
marched out and arranged themselves about the rings.
Next came Ham, leading his two wrestling monkeys and after him
came Shem with his elephant.
[Illustration: THE CIRCUS--MR. NOAH AS RINGMASTER]
Mr. Jonah, towering above the heads of the tallest animals, including
the giraffe, announced that the circus would commence.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "allow me to introduce to you the
most wonderful child rider in the world, Marjorie Hall, on her beautiful
white horse, Marshmallow. Marjorie, without doubt, is the most daring
bareback rider in the universe."
There was a great clapping of hands, hoofs and paws at this
announcement, for she had become a great favorite with the Noah's Ark
people.
"Ladies and gentlemen," went on Mr. Noah, "you see before you in
Ring No. 2 the most famous wrestlers of the world, Jocko and Monko.
In Ring No. 3 is the largest elephant in existence."
While all this was going on the Noah boys had run into the Ark.
Presently they returned, dressed up as clowns, and then the fun
commenced.

Ham held up a hoop, which he had carefully covered with tissue paper,
and to Mrs. Noah's amazement Marjorie leaped through it as if she had
been a circus bareback rider all her life.
The boys performed marvelous feats of tumbling and jumping, and
were so funny that half of the animals nearly split their sides with
laughing.
The laughing hyena had to be carried into the Ark and put to bed for
fear she would laugh herself to death.
"Well, well," exclaimed Mrs. Noah, when it was all over, "I certainly
never enjoyed the circus so much in all my life, not even when I was a
little girl."
And that night every one slept like a top, let me tell you, for each one
was tired out with the day's work. Even the weathercock, I think,
tucked his head under his gilt wings and snored!

[Illustration: The Megaphone made Captain Noah as mad as a hornet.]
THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW
"Wake up! Wake up!