Dorothy on a House Boat
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Mabel looked at the girl with shocked eyes. She had been fascinated by Aurora’s dashing appearance and the stated fact that she had only worn her “commonest things,” which to Mabel’s finery-loving soul seemed really grand. But to hear that aristocratic dame yonder spoken of as an “old woman,” like any ordinary person, was startling.
“Why Aurora – you said I might call you that – ”
“Yes, you may. While we happen to be boatmates and out of the city, you know. At home, I don’t know as Mommer would – would – You see she’s very particular about the girls I know. I shall be in ‘Society’ sometime, when Popper makes money again. But, what were you going to say?”
“I was going to say that maybe you don’t know who that lady is. She is Mrs. Elisabeth Cecil-Somerset-Calvert!”
“Well, what of it? Anybody can tie a lot of names on a string and wear ’em that way. Even Mommer calls herself Mrs. Edward Newcomer-Blank of R.”
“Why ‘of R?’ What does it mean?” asked Mabel, again impressed.
“Doesn’t mean anything, really, as far as I know. But don’t you know a lot of Baltimoreans, or Marylanders, write their names that way? Haven’t you seen it in the papers?”
“No. I never read a paper.”
“You ought. To improve your mind and keep you posted on – on current events. I’m in the current event class at school – I go to the Western High. I was going to the Girls’ Latin, this year, only – only – Hmm. So I have to keep up with the times.”
Aurora settled her silken skirts with a little swagger and again Mabel felt it a privilege to know so exalted a young person, even if their acquaintance was limited to a few weeks of boat life. Then she listened quite humbly while Aurora related some of her social experiences and discussed with a grown-up air her various flirtations.
But after a time she tired of all this, and looked longingly across to the tender, on whose rail Dorothy was now perched, with the three lads clustered about her, and all intently listening to the “yarns” with which Cap’n Jack was entertaining them.
All that worthy’s animation had returned to him. He had eaten the best of dinners in place of the “ship’s biscuit” he had suggested to his small hostess: he was relieved of care – which he had pretended to covet; and the group of youngsters before him listened to his marvellous tales of the sea with perfect faith in his truthfulness.
Some of the tales had a slight foundation in fact; but even these were so embellished by fiction as to be almost incredible. In any case, the shouts of laughter or the cries of horror that rose from his audience so attracted Mabel that, at last, she broke away from Aurora’s tamer recitals, saying:
“I’m getting stiff, sitting in one place so long. I’ll go over to Dolly. She and me have been friends ever since time was. good-bye. Or, will you come, too?”
In her heart, Aurora wished to do so. But hoping to impress her new acquaintance by her magnificence, she had put on a fanciful white silk frock, wholly unfitted for her present trip and, indeed, slyly packed in her trunk without her mother’s knowledge. The deck of the Pad wasn’t as spotless as this of the Lily. Even at that moment small Methuselah was swashing it with a great mop, which dripped more water than it wiped up. His big eyes were fairly bulging from his round black face and, having drawn as near the story-teller as he could, he mopped one spot until Dolly called out:
“That’ll do, Metty, boy! Tackle another board. Mustn’t wear out the deck with your neatness!”
Whereupon old Captain Hurry swung his crutch around and caught the youngster with such suddenness that he pitched head-first into his own big bucket. Freeing himself with a howl, he raised his mop as high as his strength would allow and brought it down upon the captain’s glittering cap.
It was the seaman’s turn to howl and an ill-matched fight would have followed if Jim hadn’t caught the pickaninny away and Dorothy seized the cripple’s headgear before it suffered any great harm. Gently brushing it with her handkerchief she restored it to its owner’s head, with the remark:
“Don’t mind Metty, Cap’n Jack. He means well, every time, only he has a little too hasty a temper. He never heard such wonderful stories before – nor I, either, for that matter. Did you, boys?”
She had believed them wholly, but Jim had begun to doubt; and Melvin was bold enough to say:
“I’ve sailed a good many times between New York and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, but I never saw – I mean, I haven’t happened, don’t you know? I wouldn’t fancy being out alone in a cat-boat and having a devil-fish rise up alongside that way. I – ”
“Young man, do you doubt my word, sir?” demanded the Captain, rising with all the dignity his lameness and the dropping of his crutch would allow.
“Oh! no, sir. I doubt nothing – nothing, sir. The Judge says the world is full of marvels and I fancy, your encounter with that giant squid is one of them. You should have that story published, Captain. You should, don’t you know?”
Melvin’s blue eyes twinkled but the otherwise gravity of his face harmlessly deceived the old seaman and brought back his good temper.
“Reckon I’ll go aloft and make out my log,” he remarked, with an air of importance, and stumped forward to his “bridge” above stairs. These he ascended, as before, by a hand-over-hand climb of the baluster, his crutches dragging behind; and it was this nimbleness of arm which convinced the watchers, far more than his impossible yarns had done, that he had indeed once been a sailor and could ascend the rigging of a ship.
Then soon came supper and again such hearty appetites were brought to it that Mrs. Bruce wondered how so much good food could disappear at one meal. Also, she remembered that the sum of three hundred dollars had a limit, large as it seemed; and while she sat silent in her place she was inwardly computing whether it would possibly furnish board for all these people for six long weeks.
Then she proceeded to “count noses,” and suddenly perceived that after Mr. Stinson’s departure there would be left the “unlucky number” of thirteen souls aboard the Water Lily.
This time the engineer was at table and Jim had taken his place on the tender; but after this, he had assured everybody that the engine did not need such constant attention and could be left to itself during meal-time at least.
However, nobody tarried long at table that night. There was to follow the first arrangement of the “staterooms,” as the canvas-partitioned spaces for each one of the party were called.
“Cute little cubby-holes,” Mabel named them, and promptly selected her own between her mother’s and Aurora’s. Dorothy was next to Aurora and Elsa between her and Mrs. Calvert’s bigger room.
Politely giving Elsa her choice, Dorothy couldn’t help a keen disappointment that it separated herself from Aunt Betty. Then she reflected that she had offered this choice as far back as on the day of their first meeting; and that she would herself serve as shield between Aurora’s haughtiness and Elsa’s timidity.
Those two guests didn’t hit it off at all well. Elsa shivered and shrank before Aurora’s boisterous high spirits and the look of contempt the elder girl bestowed upon her plain attire.
Poor little Elsa had done her best to honor the occasion. She had forced herself to go with her loving father to a department store and had suffered real distress in being fitted at the hands of a kindly, but too outspoken, saleswoman.
The suit selected had been of an ugly blue which brought out all the sallowness of the poor child’s complexion. It had been padded on one shoulder, “’cause she’s crooked in them shoulders,” and had been shortened on one side, “to suit the way she limps.” A hat of the same vicious blue had been purchased, and this trimmed with red roses, “to sort of set her up like.”
Thus attired, Mr. Carruthers had looked with pride upon his motherless darling, and felt himself amply justified in the expense he had incurred. The girl’s own better taste had rebelled and she would rather have worn the old gray frock that was at least modest and unobtrusive; but she saw the pride and tenderness in her father’s eyes and said nothing save fervent thanks.
However, all the varied emotions of the travellers were soon forgotten in the healthy slumber which came to them. The Water Lily glided quietly along, forced onward by the tender where the trio of lads sat long, exchanging experiences and, under cover of the friendly darkness, growing natural and familiar.
But after a time even they grew drowsy and “turned in,” finding their new “bunks” as snug as comfortable. The chug-chug of the small engine chimed in with the snores of the colored folks, in their own quarters beyond the galley and formed a soothing lullaby.
So deeply they slept that none knew how a storm was gathering thick and fast, except the alert engineer, who made all speed possible to reach the shelter of the little cove and wharf where he hoped to tie up; and from whence he could cross the swampy fields to the station and the midnight train for home.
It proved a race of steam and storm, with the latter victor; for at almost boat’s length from the pier there came a blinding flash of lightning and a peal of thunder most terrific. At the same moment a whirlwind shook the Water Lily like a feather, it seemed, and the shrieks of the awaking negroes startled every soul awake.
“’Tis de yend o’ de worl’! ’Tis de Jedgmen’ Day! Rise up, sinnahs, rise to yo’ jedgmen’!”
CHAPTER V
THE STORM AND WHAT FOLLOWED
In an instant a crowd of terrified people had gathered in the cabin, clasping one another’s hands, sobbing and shivering as gust after gust shook the Water Lily so that it seemed its timbers must part.
“We mought ha’ knowed! Thirteen po’ creatures shet up in dis yeah boat! Oh! My – ”
The greatest outcry was from poor Chloe, now kneeling, or crouching, at the feet of her Miss Betty, and clutching the lady’s gown so that she could not move. But if her feet were hindered her tongue was not. In her most peremptory manner she bade:
“Chloe, get up and be still! This is no time for nonsense. Close those windows. Stop the rain pouring in. Call back your common sense. Do – ”
“O, Ole Miss! I’se done dyin’! I’se gwine – ”
“No, you’re not. You couldn’t screech like that if you were anywhere’s near death. Shut – those – windows – or – let – me!”
Habit was stronger than fear. The idea of her mistress doing Chloe’s own task roused the frightened creature to obey, scarce knowing that she did so. Seeing her at work restored the calmness of the others, in a measure, and Dorothy and Mabel rushed each to the sliding panels of glass, which had been left open for the night and pushed them into place.
This lessened the roar of the tempest and courage returned as they found themselves still unhurt, though the constant flashes of light revealed a group of very white faces, and bodies still shaking with terror of nature’s rage. Mrs. Bruce had always been a coward during thunderstorms, but even she rallied enough to run for a wrap and fold it about Mrs. Calvert, who was also shaking; but from cold rather than fear.
Then between claps, they could hear the scurrying of feet on the roof overhead, the stumping of Captain Jack’s crutches, and the issuing of sharp orders in tones that were positively cheerful!
“Hark! What are they doing? Can anybody see the tender?” asked Dorothy, excitedly.
Strangely enough, it was frail, timid Elsa who answered:
“I’ve been listening. They’re taking off the canvas. The boys are up there. The other boat is away out – yonder. See? Oh! it’s grand! grand! Doesn’t it make us all seem puny! If it would only last till everyone was humble and – adoring!”
Even while she answered, the slender girl turned again to the window and gazed through it as if she could not have enough of the scene so frightful to her mates. These watched her, astonished, yet certainly calmed by her own fearless behavior; so that, presently, all were hastily dressing.
Mabel had set the example in this, saying quaintly:
“If I’ve got to be drowned I might as well look decent when I’m picked up.”
“Mabel and her clothes! The ‘ruling passion strong in death’!” cried Dorothy, in a tone meant to be natural but was still rather shaky. Somebody laughed and that lessened the excitement, so that even Chloe remembered she had appeared without her white turban and hastily put her hands smoothing her wool, as if afraid now only of her mistress’s reprimand.
But that lady had joined Elsa at the glass; and standing with her arm about the girl, drew the slight figure within the folds of her own roomy wrapper, with a comforting warmth and pressure. For it had turned icy cold and the unusual heat of the evening before seemed like a dream.
“Dear little girl, I am glad you came. Brave soul and frail body, you’re stronger than even my healthy Dorothy. And it is magnificent – magnificent. Only, I dread what the morning will reveal. If we are damaged much it will mean the end of our trip – at its very beginning.”
“Dear lady; it won’t mean that. Even if it had to do it would be all right – for me, at least. I should have some beautiful things to remember always.”
Then the cheerfulest of whistling was heard; Cap’n Jack’s warning that he was coming down the stairs and that any feminines in night attire might take warning and flee.
But nobody fled, and Dorothy tried to turn on the electric light which had been one of the fine features of this palatial house-boat. No radiance followed, and, watching from the doorway, Cap’n Jack triumphantly exclaimed:
“Didn’t I know it? What’s them new-fangled notions wuth in a case o’ need? Taller’s the stuff, or good, reli’ble whale-ile. Well, ship’s comp’ny, how’d ye like it? Warn’t that the purtiest leetle blow ’t ever you see? Didn’t I warn ye ’twas comin’? Yet ye went an’ allowed I warn’t no real captain and couldn’t run a boat like this easy as George Washin’ton! Now you’re wiser. That there leetle gale has larnt ye all somethin’. And ’nough said. Give old Jack a couple o’ sail or so an’ a man to climb the riggin’ an’ he’ll beat all the steam engines ever was hatched. Oh! I’m just feelin’ prime. That bit o’ wind has blowed all the land-fog out o’ my head an’ left it clear as glass.
“‘A life on the ocean wave,A home on the rolling de-e-ep.’”The old man’s rich voice trailed off toward the tender – or where the tender should have been – while a clear and boyish one took up the ditty from the roof above, with:
“‘Where the scattered waters raveAnd the wi-i-inds their vigils ke-e-ep!’”“Melvin! Jim! Gerald! Are you all up there? Come down, come down!”
“Yes, Captain Dolly! Coming! Here!” shouted Melvin, rattling down the crooked stair, while Jim’s voice responded: “Present!” and Gerald finished with a merry: “Accounted for!”
Then Aurora ran to meet her brother and to kiss him with an unexpected affection. To his credit it was that he gently returned her caress, but laughed at her statement that she had feared he was drowned.
“Not a bit of it! But this doesn’t look much like mourning, if you did!” he jested, pointing at the white silk frock she had again put on.
“Well, it was the first one I got hold of. That’s why. But, tell – tell – how came you up there?”
“Yes, everything, tell everything!” begged Dorothy, fairly dancing about them in her eagerness.
“Melvin – Melvin did it!” said Jim. “We might all be at the bottom of the sea – ”
“Hush!” almost screamed Aurora, beginning to tremble. “It was so horrible – I – ”
With more of sympathy than had been between them before, Dolly slipped her arm around Aurora’s shoulders and playfully ordered:
“If you boys don’t tell how you came on our promenade deck, when you belonged on the tender, you sha’n’t have any breakfast!”
“Melvin. I tell you it was Melvin. He’s the only one of us didn’t sleep like a log. He felt the hurricane coming, right through his dreams, and waked the lot of us, as soon as the first clap came. So he rushed us over the plank to take off the awnings – ”
“With such a wind sucking under them might have made the boat turn turtle, Mrs. Calvert, don’t you know? At sea – that’s why I presumed to give orders without – ”
“Oh, my dear lad, I now ‘order’ you to ‘give orders’ whenever you think best. We can trust you, and do thank you. But how dark it seems now the lightning has stopped. Isn’t there any sort of light we can get?” said Aunt Betty, sitting down with Elsa and folding a steamer rug around them both.
Cap’n Jack came stumping back from the rear of the boat in a high state of excitement and actual glee.
“Clean gone! Plank a-swingin’ loose – caught it a-board just in time – t’other boat flip-floppin’ around like she was all-possessed. Reckon she is. The idee! A reg’lar steam engine on a craft not much bigger ’n itself! What this house-boat needs isn’t steam engines but a set of stout sails an’ a few fust-class poles. Come, lads, let’s anchor her – if the fool that built her didn’t put them on the tender, too, alongside his other silly contraptions.”
Mrs. Calvert wondered if the old fellow knew what he was talking about, but found the resolute tones of his voice a comfort. Whoever else was frightened he was not and she liked him better at that moment than she would have thought possible. All his whining discontent was gone and he was honestly happy. What the others felt to be a terrible misfortune was his opportunity to prove himself the fine “skipper” he had boasted of being.
But now that the roar of the storm had subsided, there came across the little space of water between the Lily and its Pad the outcries of Ephraim and Methuselah, mingled with halloes of the engineer, John Stinson.
“They want to come alongside! They’re signallin’!” cried Cap’n Jack, promptly putting his hands before his mouth, trumpet-fashion, and returning such a lusty answer that those near him clapped hands over ears.
Then came Melvin, more sea-wise than the other lads, saying:
“I’ve been fumbling around and there are some poles lashed outside the rail. Let’s unsheath ’em, but it’ll take us all to keep them from tumbling over.”
“That’s so! You’re right! When Pop had this boat built he was told to provide for all sorts of things. The engine going broke was the last notion he had, but he had the poles made to please Mommer. I know – I mean – I guess I do – how they use ’em, but they’re mighty heavy.”
It was Captain Hurry who again came to the front. In a twinkling he had inspected the stout poles and explained, that by putting one end of each down through the water till it reached the bottom, the house-boat could not only be held steady but could be propelled.
“It’s slow but it’s safe an’ easy, Ma’am,” he informed Mrs. Calvert.
“Then it’s the very thing, the only thing, we want,” she answered, promptly. “I never did believe in that engine in the hands of an amateur.”
Jim didn’t fancy this reflection on his skill, believing that he already knew as much about machinery as an expert did and that he had mastered all that John Stinson could teach him. However, he was beyond reach of the beloved little engine now and the first thing to do was to bring the two boats together again.
Under Cap’n Jack’s direction this was promptly done; and great was old Ephraim’s rejoicing when, at last, the familiar gang-plank was once more in place and he had crossed over it to his beloved mistress’s presence.
“T’ank de Lord, Miss Betty, you didn’t get sca’ed to death! I sutney beliebed we was all gwine to de bottom of de ribbah! An’ I was plumb scan’lized ter t’ink o’ yo’ po’ li’l white body all kivvered wid mud, stidder lyin’ in a nice, clean tomb lak yo’ oughter. I – ”
“That’ll do, Ephraim. I’ll take all the rest you were going to say for granted. Here, Metty, sit down in that corner and keep still. You’re safe now and – are you hungry?”
The morning light was rapidly increasing and seen by it the little black face looked piteous indeed. But there were few troubles of Methuselah’s which “eatings” couldn’t cure; so his mistress promptly dispatched Dorothy to her stateroom for a big box of candy, brought along “in case of need.” Never would need be more urgent than now, and not only did the little page’s countenance brighten, when the box appeared, but everybody else dipped into it as eagerly – it seemed such a relief to do such an ordinary thing once more.
The sun rose and shone as if to make them forget the night of storm; and after a breakfast, hastily prepared on the little oil stove in the tender, a feeling of great content spread through the little company. Engineer Stinson had missed his train, but was now glad of it; for he had gained time to examine the engine, though disappointed at the report he had to make.
“Useless, for the present, Madam, I regret to say. Owing to the sudden jar against the end of the wharf, or the wind’s dashing the tender about, some parts are broken. To get it repaired will take some time. Shall I send down a tug to tow you back to the city? And have a man from the shop attend to it? My own job will keep me from doing it myself, though I’d like to.”
“Thank you,” said Aunt Betty, and, for a moment, said nothing more. But she looked from one to another of the eager young faces about her and read but one desire on all. This was so evident that she smiled as she asked:
“Who thinks best to give up this trip? Or, rather, to go back and start over again – if we dare?”
Nobody spoke but a sort of groan ran around the little company.
“All in favor of going on, with some other sort of ‘power,’ or of anchoring the Water Lily at some pleasant point near shore and staying there, say ‘Aye’.”
So lusty a chorus of “Ayes” answered that Aunt Betty playfully covered her ears, till the clamor had subsided. Then a council of ways and means was held, in which everyone took part, and out of which the decision came:
That Cap’n Jack should rig up the sails which was another one of Mr. Blank’s provisions against just such a dilemma, and instruct the three lads how to use them; that when they didn’t want to sail they should use the poles; or using neither, should remain quietly at rest in the most delightful spot they could find; that the Lily and its Pad should be fastened together in the strongest way, so that no more separation by wind or storm could be possible.
“The tender adds a great weight to your ‘power’ in such a case,” suggested Mr. Stinson. “Without it you could move much faster.”
“And without it, where could Ephy sleep and Chloe cook? The boys, too, will need their warm bunks if it happens to be cold,” said Dolly. “Besides – the kitchen is out there. Oh! we can’t possibly spare the tender.”
“Most house-boats get along without one,” explained the engineer.
“What about a horse, or a mule? I’ve seen such a thing somewhere, on some of our little trips with Mr. Bruce,” suggested the widow, then touched by her own reference to the dead relapsed into silence.
“Many of the little rivers of the Western Shore have banks as level as those of a canal,” said Mrs. Calvert. The idea had approved itself to her. “I’m afraid you lads would get very tired of the poling, even if the water was shallow enough. Without wind, sails wouldn’t help us; so Mrs. Bruce’s notion is the best one yet.”
“A mule would be nice and safe!” commented Mabel.
“First catch your mule,” cried Gerald.
“And who’d ride it?” asked Jim.
“You would,” promptly answered Melvin, laughing.
“Not all the time, sir!” retorted Jim, yet with an expression which showed he was really considering the subject. “Turn and turn about’s fair play.”
“All right. I’ll stand my turn and call it my ‘watch.’ I could fancy I was still on shipboard, don’t you know?”
“I’d do my third – if we didn’t keep it up all the time. A fellow wants a little chance to fish and have some fun,” added Gerald. Now that they had all been in danger together he was acting like the really fine lad he was and had dropped the silly affectations of his first manner.
Aurora, too, seemed more sensible, and, breakfast over, had shut herself in her tiny stateroom to put on the plainest frock she had. An approving smile from Mrs. Calvert greeted her reappearance and the girl began to think it wasn’t so bad after all have an old lady aboard.
“Really, Mabel, there doesn’t seem anything old about her except a few of her looks. I mean her white hair and some wrinkles. I guess it was all right she came, anyway.”