Part 30 (1/2)

”Not altogether,” she said. ”The branches up here make a very nice seat, and I nearly always bring a book with me. You will wonder how we get books, but we had a few with us when we were marooned, and since that my father has always asked for books when he has an opportunity of trading off his hides. But I have read them all over and over again, and if it were not for the s.h.i.+ps which I expect to come here and anchor, I am afraid I should grow melancholy.”

”What sort of s.h.i.+ps do you look for?” asked d.i.c.kory, who was gazing upward with so much interest that he felt a little pain in the back of his neck, and who could not help thinking of a framed engraving which hung in his mother's little parlour, and which represented some angels composed of nothing but heads and wings. He saw no wings under the head of the charming young creature in the tree, but there was no reason which he could perceive why she should not be an angel marooned upon a West Indian island.

”There are a great many of them,” said she, ”and they're all alike in one way--they never come. But there's one of them in particular which I look for and look for and look for, and which I believe that some day I shall really see. I have thought about that s.h.i.+p so often and I have dreamed about it so often that I almost know it must come.”

”Is it an English s.h.i.+p?” asked d.i.c.kory, speaking with some effort, for he found that the girl's voice came down much more readily than his went up.

”I don't know,” said she, ”but I suppose it must be, for otherwise I should not understand what the people on board should say to me. It is a large s.h.i.+p, strong and able to defend itself against any pirates. It is laden with all sorts of useful and valuable things, and among these are a great many trunks and boxes filled with different kinds of clothes.

Also, there's a great deal of money kept in a box by itself, and is in charge of an agent who is bringing it out to my father, supposing him to be now settled in Barbadoes. This money is generally a legacy for my father from a distant relative who has recently died. On this s.h.i.+p there are so many delightful things that I cannot even begin to mention them.”

”And where is it going to?” asked d.i.c.kory.

”That I don't know exactly. Sometimes I think that it is going to the island of Barbadoes, where we originally intended to settle; but then I imagine that there is some pleasanter place than Barbadoes, and if that's the case the s.h.i.+p is going there.”

”There can be no pleasanter place than Barbadoes,” cried d.i.c.kory. ”I come from that island, where I was born; there is no land more lovely in all the West Indies.”

”You come from Barbadoes?” cried the girl, ”and it really is a pleasant island?”

”Most truly it is,” said he, ”and the great dream of my life is to get back there.” Then he stopped. Was it really the dream of his life to get back there? That would depend upon several things.

”If, then, you tell me the truth, my s.h.i.+p is bound for Barbadoes. And if she should go, would you like to go there with us?”

d.i.c.kory hesitated. ”Not directly,” said he. ”I would first touch at Jamaica.”

For some moments there was no answer from the tree-top, and then came the question: ”Is it a girl who lives there?”

”Yes,” said d.i.c.kory unguardedly, ”but also I have a mother in Jamaica.”

”Indeed,” said she, ”a mother! Well, we might stop there and take the mother with us to Barbadoes. Would the girl want to go too?”

d.i.c.kory bent his head. ”Alas!” said he, ”I do not know.”

Then spoke the little Lena. ”I would not bother about any particular place to go to,” said she. ”I'd be so glad to go anywhere that isn't here. But it is not a real s.h.i.+p, you know.”

”I don't think I will take you,” called down Lucilla. ”I don't want too many pa.s.sengers, especially women I don't know. But I often think there will be a gentleman pa.s.senger--one who really wants to go to Barbadoes and nowhere else. Sometimes he is one kind of a gentleman and sometimes another, but he is never a soldier or a sailor, but rather one who loves to stay at home. And now, sir, I think I must take my gla.s.s and try to pick out a s.h.i.+p from among the spots on the far distant waves.”

”Come on,” said Lena, ”do you like to fis.h.!.+ Because if you do, I can take you to a good place.”

The rest of the day d.i.c.kory spent with Mr. Mander and his wife, who were intelligent and pleasant people. They talked of their travels, their misfortunes and their blessings, and d.i.c.kory yearned to pour out his soul to them, but he could not do so. His woes did not belong to himself alone; they were not for the ears of strangers. He made up his mind what he would do. Until the morrow he would stay as a visitor with these most hospitable people, then he would ask for work. He would collect firewood, he would hunt, he would fish, he would do anything. And here he would support himself until there came some merchant s.h.i.+p bound southward which would carry him away. If the Mander family were anyway embarra.s.sed or annoyed by his presence here, he would make a camp at a little distance and live there by himself. Perhaps the lady of the tree would kindly send him word if the s.h.i.+p he was looking for should come.

It was about the middle of the afternoon, and Lena had dropped asleep beneath the tree where d.i.c.kory and her parents were conversing, when suddenly there rushed upon the little group a most surprising figure.

At the first flash of thought d.i.c.kory supposed that a boy from the skies had dropped among them, but in an instant he recognised the face he had seen above the bushes. It was Lucilla, the daughter of the house! Upon her head was a little straw hat, and she wore a loose tunic and a pair of sailor's trousers, which had been cut off and were short enough to show that her feet and ankles were bare. Around her waist she had a belt of skins, from which dangled a string of crimson sea-beans. Her eyes were wide open, her face was pale, and she was trembling with excitement.

”What do you think!” she cried, not caring who was there or who might look at her. ”There's a s.h.i.+p at the spring, and there's a boat rowing across the bay. A boat with four men in it!”

All started to their feet.

”A boat,” cried Mander, ”with four men in it? Run, my dear, to the cave; press into its depths as far as you can. There is nothing there to be afraid of, and no matter how frightened you are, press into its most distant depths. You, sir, will remain with me, or would you rather escape? If it is a pirate s.h.i.+p, it may be Blackbeard who has returned.”