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Chinese Kitten

<h2 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV FRIENDS FROM HOME</h2> During all that week at White Beach it rained only a part of one afternoon. Both “Doctor Dolittle” and “Katy” stayed shut into Mother’s suit-case. After the mishap to Arcturus, nothing precious was trusted in the tent. Even on the day the rain fell, the air was so warm and soft that Lucy and Dora played on the shore just the same and thought the sprinkles only the more fun. Every day people passed up and down the beach. Sometimes they were children who would stop and help Lucy and Dora build a sand fort or run races with them in the edge of the water. Sometimes they had a collection of pebbles to be admired, or a sea-urchin picked up in the sand. These were considered great[51] treasures. Some were worn smooth by the waves, and some—but these were fewer—still had long green spines sticking to their shells. Except for the friendly children, Lucy and Dora paid very little attention to the passers-by. They could see as many people as they wished in Westmore, but in Westmore there were no gulls and no beach and no sea. One afternoon Dora did look up when a gentleman on horseback came down the shore. The horse was the color of a bright chestnut and his hair reflected the sun. Somebody must have brushed that horse extremely hard to make him so shiny. Dora looked at the horse and Lucy looked at the rider and presently Lucy smiled a little. The gentleman glanced at the children and smiled also. “Aren’t you Mr. Merrill’s little girls?” he asked. At this Dora looked up. It was Alice[52] Harper’s father. They often saw him in church. Mr. Harper made the pretty horse stop. He asked Lucy where they were staying. He looked at the shack and at the tent beside it. “And do you sleep in the tent?” he asked. Lucy explained that they did. “Alice has wanted to sleep in one this summer, but her mother wasn’t willing. I know it is great fun. I will tell Alice that you are here and I think she will be down to see you. Our house is the other side of the life-saving station.” Mr. Harper and the shiny horse went on along the beach. Dora watched for some time. The horse walked down by the water where the sand was hard, but whenever a wave came curling in, he danced up the beach. Evidently he did not like to get his feet wet. [53] When the children went up to supper they told Mrs. Merrill about their visitor. “He had a very pretty horse. It shone like a bottle,” said Dora. “Do you think Alice will come to see us?” asked Lucy. “I wouldn’t set my heart on it,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Mrs. Harper is always very nice to everybody in the church,” said Olive, who was trying to make toast over the oil stove and was not succeeding very well. “I know she is,” agreed Mrs. Merrill. “But church isn’t the beach, and people who live in big houses don’t always want to know people who live in small ones.” Olive burned a slice of bread and gave a little moan over it, so Dora forgot to ask just what Mother meant. She felt quite sure that Alice would come. Of course, her father[54] might forget to tell her. Fathers did sometimes forget very important things, like posting letters and giving messages and bringing home yeast-cakes. Lucy also thought that Alice would come, and they were not disappointed. The very next afternoon, which was Friday, while they were playing on the beach, Alice came, and Mrs. Harper with her. Alice stopped with the children and Mrs. Harper went straight to the shack to speak with Mrs. Merrill and Olive. Father and Uncle Dan had gone fishing. Alice asked a great many questions. She wished to know how long they had been there, how long they were going to stay, and why they had not been to see her. It was easy to answer the first question and the second answered itself, because school began the next Monday and the printing-press[55] started work again, but the third question was not so easy. “We did not know where your house was,” said Lucy at last. “You could have asked,” said Alice. “There are no girls my age anywhere near me. I have had nobody to play with all summer but babies and boys. The babies are very well for a time, but they can’t do much but dig holes in the sand, and I don’t like the boys at all. They do horrible things, like putting crabs in shoes and dead fish in playhouses.” “Girls are nicer to play with,” said Lucy. “Would you like to make a pebble house, Alice, or would you like to wade?” “I would like to go into your tent,” said Alice eagerly. The children took Alice up to the tent, which she admired very much. “What fun[56] it must be!” she said. “I wish I could sleep here with you just one night.” Lucy and Dora began to wonder if this could be planned. It did not seem easy, for there was not room for another cot, even if there were one to bring from the house. It would be hard to find space for even a doll’s bed. As it was, Lucy’s doll had to sleep with her. Dora’s Teddy wore a fur coat and he sat up all night. It would not be polite to ask Olive to give Lucy her cot, and there was no place for her to sleep if she did. There seemed no way to make Alice’s wish come true. When the children came out of the tent, they saw Mrs. Merrill on the porch with her hat on and a coat over her arm. “Goody!” said Alice. “Mother was going to ask your mother if she didn’t want to go over to the Port in the motor-boat. We are going, too.” [57] What a pleasant surprise this was! Lucy and Dora thought it very kind of Mrs. Harper. They had half envied Father and Uncle Dan their trip. Everybody walked up the beach beyond the life-saving station where the boats lay ready to be launched the moment they were needed. Ships need help sometimes as well as people, and these boats were always waiting for a call from sea. Beyond the station lay a row of pretty houses on a curving strip of land which ran around a big bay. Across, was the town which Alice called the Port. Mrs. Harper took them up on the porch of her cottage and gave them some lemonade and cookies. She brought out the pitcher herself and Alice brought the glasses. It tasted very good because there was no ice at the shack to keep things cool. [58] After drinking the lemonade they went down to the boat-house where a man helped them into the motor-boat. Lucy and Dora had been around World’s End Pond in a launch, but this one was much more trim and tidy and went through the water much faster. Its boards were very white and all the brass shone and it plunged right at each wave as though it were going to dive through rather than sit on top. Dora became very quiet. The foam flew on either side, and the waves were as blue as Mother’s blueing water, but on the whole she liked the pond better than the sea. For one thing, there was not so much of it. Lucy and Alice went forward in the launch. Alice wanted to sit on the roof of the little cabin. Mrs. Harper said she might if the man at the wheel thought it was safe. “Safe as lying in a cradle,” said the man,[59] so Lucy and Alice climbed up where they could get all the wind that blew. “Don’t you want to go with them?” Mrs. Harper asked Dora. “No, thank you,” said Dora shyly. She was sitting next Olive and presently she cuddled so close that Olive understood and put an arm around her. Before long the waves grew even larger and some of them broke over the bow of the launch. Alice and Lucy were spattered with spray and both gave little shrieks. “Don’t you feel well, Dora?” asked Olive in a whisper. “Don’t you want to go to the Port?” “I’d rather go on land,” said Dora. “Any land.” Dora spoke softly but Mrs. Harper heard. “Poor child!” she said. “And I thought she would enjoy a ride.” [60] Mrs. Harper opened a locker, which was a cupboard under the seat, and took out a big soft shawl. She spread it on the seat and told Dora to lie down. Dora was extremely glad to feel herself on something flat. She shut her eyes and kept still while Mother and Mrs. Harper wrapped her in the rug. Then Mrs. Harper spoke to the man at the wheel. He turned the launch in a different direction so that the bow did not hit the waves quite so hard. It seemed a long time to Dora before they were back at the boat-house. The launch had been out only about an hour, but she thought it was the whole afternoon. Alice and Lucy thought it was about ten minutes. Just as soon as she stepped ashore, Dora began to feel better, and she did not really need the hot soup which Mrs. Harper insisted she should drink. By the time they were home[61] at the little shack, Dora could hardly believe that she had not enjoyed the trip. “But would you like to go again in the launch?” asked Olive. No, Dora would not go so far as to say that. She felt surprised and hurt, that the sea which looked so lovely, could make her feel so disagreeable. When the fishermen came they brought with them five fish. Four were ordinary plain fish such as the children often saw at the market, but the fifth one, which Uncle Dan had caught, was much longer and broader and looked strange. Dora at once asked Uncle Dan its name. “I think it is a walrus,” said Dan gravely. Lucy looked respectfully at the fish but Dora looked at Uncle Dan. Though his face was quite unsmiling, there was a twinkle in his eyes. [62] “It must be a walrus,” he went on, “because I am a carpenter, you see.” Lucy didn’t “see” at all, but Dora laughed in delight. Of course it must be a walrus. She remembered the poem perfectly. <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">“The Walrus and the Carpenter</div> <div class="verse indent1">Were walking close at hand;</div> <div class="verse">They wept like anything to see</div> <div class="verse indent1">Such quantities of sand:</div> <div class="verse">‘If this were only cleared away,’</div> <div class="verse indent1">They said, ‘it would be grand!’</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">“‘If seven maids with seven mops</div> <div class="verse indent1">Swept it for half a year,</div> <div class="verse">Do you suppose,’ the Walrus said,</div> <div class="verse indent1">‘That they could get it clear?’</div> <div class="verse">‘I doubt it,’ said the Carpenter,</div> <div class="verse indent1">And shed a bitter tear.”</div> </div></div> </div> Dora laughed hard at Uncle Dan waving the fish and pretending to wipe his eyes. Olive understood and laughed also, but Lucy and Mrs. Merrill didn’t understand the joke at all. Then the fishermen were told about the[63] launch trip and Dora was rather sorry they had to know that she did not enjoy it. But she felt comforted when Father confided to her that he did not like the motion of the boat himself. “It was all right as long as we kept moving,” he said, “but when we anchored to fish, I felt as though my dinner wasn’t to be depended upon.” “I know just how you felt,” said Dora earnestly. “I grew so jiggly that my stomach came up on top of me.” And the very next day they had to go home. The truck was to come over early in the afternoon and everything must be ready. Uncle Dan and Olive were going back by trolley and they said they would take the children, but Lucy and Dora decided to ride on the truck. For that last dinner they had another chowder, because it was easy to make and to heat when there was not a great deal of time for[64] cooking. And it was odd how easy the packing seemed. Scarcely five minutes were needed to tuck into the suit-case the clothes it had taken so long to choose. The cookies and cake and apples were all eaten. Only, as Dora folded the last rug and looked around the empty tent, ready now to be taken down, she thought of Arcturus and the tears came to her eyes. She did not mean anybody to see them, because they had all been so kind. Mother had not said one word about her being careless and Lucy offered to give back the pink coral heart Dora had lent to her. But when the tent was all pulled to pieces, the thought of her dear bear was more than she could stand. Olive saw her wipe away a tear and put an arm around her. “I am so sorry, Dora,” she said. “Indeed, if I could, I would get you another bear.” “It wouldn’t be Arcturus,” choked Dora. [65] “No,” agreed Olive, “but it might be his twin brother. I don’t suppose it would be possible to buy one in this country, and I shall never be lucky enough to go to Switzerland. But I am thinking you a little bear, Dora. Can’t you feel him growing?” Dora pretended she could, and when she came out of the tent, nobody could have suspected any tears. But as they left White Beach, her last look was not for the sea nor the sky nor the gulls, nor the goldenrod and asters along the sandhills, but for the place where the tent had stood, and in her heart she was hoping that Arcturus would be very happy in his new life by the shore. <hr /> [66] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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