Part 25 (2/2)
”Well,” he said, ”that's done--and I'm glad of it. I've enjoyed this trip very much, but after all I'm glad I'm going home. Be it ever so b.u.mble there's no place like home, as the Bee said, and I'll be glad to be back again where I can sleep comfortably on my kitchen-stove, with my beloved umbrella standing guard alongside of me, and my trusty leak looking down upon me from the ceiling while I rest.”
”You missed a wonderful sight,” said Mollie. ”That Rock of Gibraltar was perfectly magnificent.”
”I didn't miss it,” said the Unwiseman. ”I peeked at it through the port-hole and I quite agree with you. It is the cutest piece of rock I've seen in a long time. It seemed almost as big to me as the boulder in my back yard must seem to an ant, but I prefer my boulder just the same. Gibrallyper's too big to do anything with and it spoils the view, whereas my boulder can be rolled around the place without any trouble and doesn't spoil anything. I suppose they keep it there to keep Spain from sliding down into the sea, so it's useful in a way, but after all I'm just as glad it's here instead of out on my lawn somewhere.”
”What have you been doing all these days?” asked Mollie.
”O just keeping quiet,” said the Unwiseman. ”I've been reading up on Christopher Columbus and--er--writing a few poems about him. He was a wonderful man, Columbus was. He proved the earth was round when everybody else thought it was flat--and how do you suppose he did it?”
”By sailin' around it,” said Whistlebinkie.
”That was after he proved it,” observed the Unwiseman, with the superior air of one who knows more than somebody else. ”He proved it by making an egg stand up on its hind legs.”
”What?” cried Mollie.
”I didn't know eggs had hind legs,” said Whistlebinkie.
”Ever see a chicken?” asked the Unwiseman.
”Yes,” said Whistlebinkie.
”Well, a chicken's only an advanced egg,” said the Unwiseman.
”That's true,” said Mollie.
”And chickens haven't got anything but hind legs, have they?” demanded the old gentleman.
”Tha.s.s-a-fact,” whistled Whistlebinkie.
”And Columbus proved it by making the egg stand up?” asked Mollie.
”That's what history tells us,” said the Unwiseman. ”All the Harvard and Yale professors of the day said the earth was flat, but Columbus knew better, so he just took an egg and proved it. That's one of the things I've put in a poem. Want to hear it?”
”Indeed I do,” said Mollie. ”It must be interesting.”
”It is--it's the longest poem I ever wrote,” said the Unwiseman, and seeking out a retired nook on the steamer's deck the droll old fellow seated himself on a coil of rope and read the following poem to Mollie and Whistlebinkie.
COLUMBUS AND THE EGG.
”Columbus was a gentleman Who sailed the briny sea.
He was a bright young Genoan In sunny Italy Who once discovered just the plan To find Amerikee.”
”Splendid!” cried Mollie, clapping her hands with glee.
”Perfly-bully!” chortled Whistlebinkie, with a joyous squeak.
”I'm glad you like it,” said the Unwiseman, with a smile of pleasure.
”But just you wait. The best part of it's to come yet.”
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