Part 8 (1/2)
They all laughed at Cricket's scheme. Her knitting was a standing joke.
Mamma had insisted on her learning how to knit, when she was quite small, telling her that it would be a very useful accomplishment when she was grown up, and that it was very much easier to learn to knit quickly, if one learns very young. So Cricket had toiled her way through a pair of reins for Kenneth, and had also accomplished a red and white striped washrag for Helen. Her present undertaking was a blue and white one for Zaidee. It was now a year old.
”If Zaidee was in need of that washrag, she'd be a blackamoor before she gets it,” said Eunice.
”She isn't starving for it,” returned Cricket, comfortably. ”And I've dropped so many st.i.tches, anyway, and couldn't find them, that it isn't much but holes. The knitting only just holds the holes together. 'Liza will have to darn it a lot, before she can use it for Zaidee.”
”You're old enough to like to sew and embroider things,” said Edna, reprovingly.
”No, I'm not,” said Cricket, quickly. ”When I have to wear plaguy long dresses, and when I can't play football, nor climb trees, nor perform on the trapeze, nor do anything nice, then I'll get some gla.s.ses and store teeth, and sit down and consolate myself by knitting and sewing all day.
Ugh! I wish I were a boy! I mean, sometimes I wish I were,” with a quick glance around, to see if those omnipresent cousins of hers were within earshot, for, before them, nothing would have induced her to admit anything of the kind.
”You and I will go, then, Edna,” said Eunice. ”I'll run down and get the boat ready, while you bring the cus.h.i.+ons, and get something to eat for a lunch. Better come, Cricket.”
”I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll row you over, and then I'll row round a little, for fun, myself, while you two are having a nice stupid time, all by yourselves. You can call me when you want me to come back.
”Oh, I'll tell you what let's do. Let's play we're s.h.i.+pwrecked. You get some luncheon, Edna, lots of it, and we'll have a very exciting time.”
”You always want to _play_ something,” said Edna, who couldn't quite understand how Cricket could always change the aspect of everything--even of things she had to do, that she didn't like--by the magic formula, ”Let's play.”
”It's so much more fun to play things, than just plain _do_ them,”
Cricket contented herself with saying now.
”I'll run the boat down, Eunice, if you'll go with Edna, and get all the things, cus.h.i.+ons and books and luncheon, and _don't_ forget your precious work, Edna,” and Cricket skipped off to the dock, while the girls went to the house.
”Shall we be the 'Swiss Family Robinson,' or 'The Young Crusoes,' or shall we be a new set altogether?” asked Cricket, when they were all afloat.
”A new set, I say,” answered Eunice. ”We've played 'Swiss Family' so much I'm tired of it. Let us be two boys, and Edna our sister.”
”No, our grandmother,” said Cricket, soberly. ”It's more appropriate.
She likes to knit so much.”
”I won't be a grandmother,” said Edna, decidedly. ”If I can't be a sister, I won't play.”
”I was only in fun. I'd just as soon that you'd be a sister,” said Cricket, pacifically. ”I was only joking. We've escaped from a burning vessel, you know, and every one else is either burned or drowned. We've provisions for a month, if we don't eat too much, and we're in the South Sea Islands. South Sea Islands sound nice and s.h.i.+pwrecky, don't you think so?”
”Splendid. No sail is in sight,” went on Eunice, striking in, ”and a wild waste of waters stretch on every side,” quoting freely, as she swept her hand around the expanse of the wide, calm bay, dotted with white sails and rowboats.
”A savage, rock-bound coast appears before us,” she added, as Cricket's muscular little arms sent the light boat along towards the small island ahead of them. It consisted of little more than a ma.s.s of rocks, with a bit of shelving beach on the west side, and, here and there, a scrubby pine.
But it was a picturesque spot, and the children were very fond of coming over there, since no one else ever seemed to think of it, and they had it to themselves.
”Methinks this coast looks bare, indeed,” said Cricket, in her character of s.h.i.+pwrecked mariner, as she rested on her oars. ”Shall we land here, brother?”
”'Tis the only land in sight,” returned Eunice, s.h.i.+elding her eyes, and looking forward. ”What say you, sister?”
Edna giggled. ”Suppose there are cannibals there?” she asked. ”I don't want to be eaten up alive.”
”We will defend you, with our last breath,” promised Eunice, valiantly, as they shot up on the pebbly bit of beach. ”Shall we explore it, brother?”
”You explore, and I'll row around the island, and see if there are any signs of cannibals or savages. Perhaps I'll find a settlement of white people,” she said, as she pushed off with her oar, after the girls had disembarked with the baggage.