The Queen of the Pirate Isle | Page 6

the outlet. There
was a pool of this kind a quarter of a mile away, where there were
"diggings" worked by Patsey's father, and thither they proceeded along
the ridge in single file. When it was reached they solemnly began to
wade in its viscid paint-like shallows. Possibly its unctuousness was
pleasant to the touch; possibly there was a fascination in the fact that
their parents had forbidden them to go near it, but probably the
principal object of this performance was to produce a thick coating of
mud on the feet and ankles, which, when dried in the sun, was
supposed to harden the skin and render their shoes superfluous. It was
also felt to be the first real step towards independence; they looked
down at their ensanguined extremities and recognized the impossibility
of their ever again crossing (unwashed) the family threshold.
Then they again hesitated. There was a manifest need of some
well-defined piratical purpose. The last act was reckless and
irretrievable, but it was vague. They gazed at each other. There was a
stolid look of resigned and superior tolerance in Wan Lee's eyes.
Polly's glance wandered down the side of the slope to the distant little
tunnels or openings made by the miners who were at work in the
bowels of the mountain. "I'd like to go into one of them funny holes,"
she said to herself, half aloud.
Wan Lee suddenly began to blink his eyes with unwonted excitement.

"Catchee tunnel--heap gold," he said quickly. "When manee come
outside to catchee dinner--Pilats go inside catchee tunnel! Shabbee!
Pilats catchee gold allee samee Melican man!"
"And take perseshiun," said Hickory.
"And hoist the Pirate flag," said Patsey.
"And build a fire, and cook, and have a family," said Polly.
The idea was fascinating to the point of being irresistible. The eyes of
the four children became rounder and rounder. They seized each other's
hands and swung them backwards and forwards, occasionally lifting
their legs in a solemn rhythmic movement known only to childhood.
"It's orful far off!" said Patsey with a sudden look of dark importance.
"Pap says it's free miles on the road. Take all day ter get there."
The bright faces were overcast.
"Less go down er slide!" said Hickory boldly.
They approached the edge of the cliff. The "slide" was simply a sharp
incline zigzagging down the side of the mountain used for sliding
goods and provisions from the summit to the tunnel-men at the
different openings below. The continual traffic had gradually worn a
shallow gully half filled with earth and gravel into the face of the
mountain which checked the momentum of the goods in their
downward passage, but afforded no foothold for a pedestrian. No one
had ever been known to descend a slide. That feat was evidently
reserved for the Pirate band. They approached the edge of the slide,
hand in hand, hesitated, and the next moment disappeared.
Five minutes later the tunnel-men of the Excelsior mine, a mile below,
taking their luncheon on the rude platform of debris before their tunnel,
were suddenly driven to shelter in the tunnel from an apparent rain of
stones, and rocks, and pebbles, from the cliffs above. Looking up, they
were startled at seeing four round objects revolving and bounding in
the dust of the slide, which eventually resolved themselves into three
boys and a girl. For a moment the good men held their breath in
helpless terror. Twice one of the children had struck the outer edge of
the bank, and displaced stones that shot a thousand feet down into the
dizzy depths of the valley; and now one of them, the girl, had actually
rolled out of the slide and was hanging over the chasm supported only
by a clump of chamisal to which she clung!
"Hang on by your eyelids, sis! but don't stir, for Heaven's sake!"

shouted one of the men, as two others started on a hopeless ascent of
the cliff above them.
But a light childish laugh from the clinging little figure seemed to mock
them! Then two small heads appeared at the edge of the slide; then a
diminutive figure, whose feet were apparently held by some invisible
companion, was shoved over the brink and stretched its tiny arms
towards the girl. But in vain, the distance was too great. Another laugh
of intense youthful enjoyment followed the failure, and a new
insecurity was added to the situation by the unsteady hands and
shoulders of the relieving party, who were apparently shaking with
laughter. Then the extended figure was seen to detach what looked like
a small black rope from its shoulders and throw it to the girl. There was
another little giggle. The faces of the men below paled in terror. Then
Polly,-- for it was