Part 29 (2/2)

As soon as he was at liberty to do so, d.i.c.kory walked by the hedge of low bushes, and there, above it, was the bright face, with the pretty gra.s.s hat.

”I was waiting for you,” said she. ”I wanted to see how that hat fitted, and I think it does nicely. And I wanted to tell you that I have been looking out for s.h.i.+ps, but have not seen one. I don't mean by that that I want you to go away almost as soon as you have come, but of course, if a merchant s.h.i.+p should anchor here, it would be dreadful for you not to know.”

”I am not sure,” said d.i.c.kory gallantly, ”that I am in a hurry for a s.h.i.+p. It is truly very pleasant here.”

”What makes it pleasant?” said the girl.

d.i.c.kory hesitated for a moment. ”The breeze from the forest,” said he.

She laughed. ”It is charming,” she said, ”but there are so many places where there is just as good a breeze, or perhaps better. How I would like to go to some one of them! To me this island is lonely and doleful.

Every time I look over the sea for a s.h.i.+p I hope that one will come that can carry us away.”

”Then,” said d.i.c.kory, ”I wish a s.h.i.+p would come to-morrow and take us all away together.”

She shook her head. ”As my father told you,” said she, ”we have no place to go to.”

d.i.c.kory thought a good deal about the sad condition of the family of this worthy marooner. He thought of it even after he had stretched himself for the night upon the bed of palmetto leaves beneath the tree against which he had leaned when he wondered how he could be so cheerful under the shadow of the sad fate which was before him.

CHAPTER XXVIII

LUCILLA'S s.h.i.+P

As soon as d.i.c.kory had left off his c.o.c.ked hat and his gold-embroidered coat, the little girl Lena had ceased to be afraid of him, and the next morning she came to him, seated lonely--for this was a busy household--and asked him if he would like to take a walk. So, hand in hand, they wandered away. Presently they entered a path which led through the woods.

”This is the way my sister goes to her lookout tree,” said the little girl. ”Would you like to see that tree?”

”Oh, yes!” said d.i.c.kory, and he spoke the truth.

”She goes up to the very top,” said Lena, ”to look for s.h.i.+ps. I would never do that; I'd rather never see a s.h.i.+p than to climb to the top of such a tree. I'll show it to you in a minute; we're almost there.”

At a little distance from the rest of the forest and upon a bluff which overlooked a stretch of lowland, and beyond that the bay, stood a tall tree with spreading branches and heavy foliage.

”Up in the top of that is where she sits,” said the child, ”and spies out for s.h.i.+ps. That's what she's doing now. Don't you see her up there?”

”Your sister in the tree!” exclaimed d.i.c.kory. And his first impulse was to retire, for it had been made quite plain to him that he was not expected to present himself to the young lady of the house, should she be on the ground or in the air. But he did not retire. A voice came to him from the tree-top, and as he looked upward he saw the same bright face which had greeted him over the top of the bushes. Below it was a great bunch of heavy leaves.

”So you have come to call on me, have you?” said the lady in the tree.

”I am glad to see you, but I'm sorry that I cannot ask you to come upstairs. I am not receiving.”

”He could not come up if he wanted to,” said Lena; ”he couldn't climb a tree like that.”

”And he doesn't want to,” cried the nymph of the bay-tree. ”I have been up here all the morning,” said she, ”looking for s.h.i.+ps, but not one have I seen.”

”Isn't that a tiresome occupation?” asked d.i.c.kory.

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