“WHAT I says is this, my dear,” said old Molly to Peggy McQueen, when she found her up and dressed next morning at a little past six, “it ain’t nateral, and if you take old Molly’s advice you’ll go back to bed again, as fast as you likes.”
“But you are up yourself, Molly!”
“I be’s an old crittur, Miss Peggy, and old critturs doesn’t get so much sleep as the young. ’Sides, Miss Peggy, they doesn’t need it.”
“But I’m going to the rocks, Molly, to fish. Don’t tell Johnnie, because I want to be first to-day.”
Old Molly laughed.
“Oh, indeed, my dear; Johnnie’s been up this hour and more forbye.”
The tide was far back this morning, and there was not a breath of air to stir the surface of the sleeping sea. It was one vast sheet of leaden gray, with a haze1 on the horizon, through which a ship or two was{51} looming2. Long strips of blackest rock, shaped like needles, jutted3 out seawards, and on their extreme points the waves broke lazily. Great stretches of yellow sand lay between. At the very end of one of these rocky capes4 a figure no larger a pigeon could be seen moving about, very actively5 indeed.
“Yonder’s Johnnie,” said Molly.
“I’m going to him, Molly. Come, Ralph.”
The dog bayed, and went bounding round his little mistress. Even Johnnie on the rock point could hear that deep-mouthed sound and knew that his cousin Peggy was coming, and next minute both she and the hound were seen feathering across the sands in his direction. The boy’s handsome face brightened when he saw his child companion.
“I somehow knew you would come this morning, Peggy.”
“Yes?” said the girl, inquiringly.
“Yes, I knew you wouldn’t go to the forest again to-day, after yesterday.”
“Oh, but I might!” she answered, mischievously6. “You know I’m always going to take Ralph with me now.”
“Well, you’d better—or—I could come.{52}”
“A dog,” said Peggy, sententiously, “is often better than a boy. A dog is quieter, and a dog can bite.”
“Come, and we’ll fish some more, Peggy, and look at things among the pools of the rock.”
Peggy sat down and extended her bare legs in front of her.
“Take my sandals off.”
Then hand in hand away they went sight-seeing over the rocks and across the pools. Ralph was in the water, splashing about and having great fun with the jelly-fishes. Sometimes he took a big mouthful of water and seemed to wonder it was so salt. Had it been fresh, he would have swallowed some; as it was, he only let it run out of his red jowls again.
But what a world of marine8 life was to be found among the weeds and in the little, sandy-bottomed pools! Shell-fish of every shape and colour, crimson9 medusa, and wee, wicked-looking crabs10, like big spiders that walked sideways and had their eyes on stalks handy for looking round corners; brown crabs, blue crabs, gray and yellow crabs.{53}
The seaweeds themselves were most beautiful to behold11, specially12 the tiny, fern-like ones, that floated pink and sienna in the clear pools. Sometimes, when Peggy put her foot on one of the bladders which float the very large algæ, it gave a crack like a small pistol, and quite startled her.
They spent quite an hour at the seaside; but Peggy couldn’t find a mermaid13, though she felt sure there were little fairy ones, and that they dwelt deep down in just such pools as these, and didn’t wear much clothes, except bits of fringy seaweed around their waists to hide their fishy14 tails.
“Oh!” cried Peggy, suddenly. She was some yards away from her companion.
“Now you’ve done it,” said the boy. “You want to be a mermaid yourself, Peggy, I think.”
“No good,” sighed Peggy. “I must take it off and spread it in the sun to dry.”
Johnnie helped her, and then made a tippet for her of his own merino muffler to cover her bare shoulders.
“Oh, if you are going to dress me,” said {54}Peggy, pouting16, “I must have something more than your merino wrap, though that does feel soft and warm.”
She ran away a little distance shorewards to a spot where the rocks were higher, only stopping just for a moment to wave her hand back to him.
When Peggy called Johnnie “Jack,” then Johnnie knew that Peggy meant business.
But as she stood there for a moment on the top of a boulder19, with bare brown limbs and laughing face, Johnnie had to allow that she looked a very pretty and a very provoking picture. Then she dropped down behind the great boulder, and he saw her no more for a time.
“When I am a man,” said Johnnie to himself, “and have a house or a great caravan20, or a ship or something of my own, I shouldn’t wonder if I married Peggy.”
He proceeded to seek for more shrimps21 and dabs22, or whatever he could find. He had a long trident, such as Neptune23, the sea-god, is supposed to carry. He lowered this almost to the bottom of a pool, and whenever he noticed the sand stir, down went the three-pronged spear and up came{55} a flat fish. He got several thus, and one wriggley-waggley conger eel17.
When he looked up, lo! there was Peggy, standing24 on her boulder again, but how changed! She was Peggy still in face—she could be nothing sweeter—but her whole body down to the knees, with the exception of her shapely arms, was covered with a garment of seaweeds; strings25 of shells were around her neck, her arms, and ankles, and her hair was adorned26 with sea-mosses which matched its auburn beauty. Peggy possessed27 the gift of “getting up,” but never before had she done anything so perfect as this.
Johnnie wasn’t often taken back, but he was now; he merely opened his eyes and said, “Oh, Peggy!”
The little minx tripped lightly down and took his trident from the boy’s hands, then, holding it with the spear-points upwards28, she stood on a rock in the sunlight and began to sing.
“Do you like my new dress, Johnnie, boy?”
“Yes; and oh, Peggy, you must sing in{56} it to-night. You look a perfect little nymph of the wave. And now we are going to breakfast, dear cousin.”
“What! In this dress of weeds?”
“Yes, and that trident and all. You won’t catch cold, will you?”
“No, silly; this dress is ever so cool and nice.”
The dog went bounding on in front, barking and baying; the children followed, hand in hand as usual, and, as usual, singing.
They were so happy. Oh, would that happiness would ever last!
When Johnnie led his cousin into the breakfast tent, Father Fitzroy jumped up.
“By Jupiter, Peggy McQueen!” he cried, “you’re a genius. You look somewhat damp, else, ’pon my honour, I’d take you in my arms and kiss you. But, Johnnie, you may do so.”
But the saucy30 little sea-goddess wheeled round, lowered her trident to the defensive31, and repeated some lines from one of her favourite dramas.
“Come not near me, sirrah. Advance but one step and you have looked your last on yonder sun. Seek to molest32 me, thou{57} craven coward, and thy life-blood dyes the heather!”
“Sit down, my dearie, sit down,” said Molly; “are ye sure ye won’t catch cold in them cloes?”
“I’m going off to write a song. Now, at once.” This from Fitzroy. “The music and words are ringing in my head even now—‘The Seaweed Queen'—and you shall sing it to-night, my damp little darling. Molly, keep my coffee hot.”
This evening was Peggy’s benefit, and the “house” was even more crowded than ever. The same performance was gone through, and ‘The Seaweed Queen’ was voted the greatest success of the season.
On the morning after Peggy’s benefit the camp was struck.
Striking camp seems an easy matter, does it not? But, having travelled in caravans33 with tents for many a long year, I can assure my gentle and my simple reader, that it is not half so easy to get clear away out of one’s pitch as it may seem.
All hands had to be called very early to-day. It is no hardship, however, for caravan people to rise betimes. They live{58} constantly in the open air, and are wont34 to consider morning the sweetest time of all the day.
In the case of the Wandering Minstrels the trouble of striking camp was minimised, because everyone had his own duties to perform, and all obeyed the orders of Father Fitzroy, while he himself worked as hard as anyone.
At four o’clock that morning Willie the dwarf35 shook himself clear of his sack, and with his little bugle36 to his lips sounded the reveille. The notes of his horn were very beautiful, as they rose and fell on the still air of what was a blue-skied and heavenly morning. They went swelling37 over the woods and startled the wild-birds; forest rangers38 still abed heard them and wondered what they were, and fishermen out at sea yonder, who had been toiling39 all night at their silver harvest, turned their weary eyes shorewards and wondered.
Still with the bugle over his shoulder, Willie, without waiting to note the effects of the blast he had blown, hurried away now and neatly40 folded up his sack, and stuck it in its place beneath the two-horse caravan. Then he took his bundle of straw away to{59} some distance on the lee-side of the camp, and coming back, proceeded to hang up all the buckets and the field-lamp, and the oil-cans, the vegetable-baskets, and other odds41 and ends daintily and neatly on their hooks below the vans. He had, moreover, to see that nothing was left lying about the field. In ten minutes’ time the camp-fire was lit and the kettle was filled and hung over it.
Molly was soon busy bustling42 about to prepare the six o’clock breakfast. Meanwhile, all the theatrical43 properties were loaded on the cart, which Willie himself was permitted to drive, for dwarfs44 are strong for their size. By the time this cart was loaded and the quiet horse harnessed, the breakfast was ready in the tent. Though a little sorry to leave so sweet a camping-ground, everyone was more or less excited with the thought of starting off once more and through the woods in search of further adventures.
It is needless to say that the breakfast was a hearty45 one. If there is one thing in this world that gipsy people can do better than another, it is making a good show at table. Even Willie the tiny did ample justice to the good things Providence46 had placed before him. As for the giant{60}—
“Well, my children,” he said, “I must confess I like a square meal. Given a good breakfast, a jolly dinner, and a hearty supper, no one need go hungry if he can only work in a few pints47 of good fruit between whiles, and maybe a few cocoa-nuts.”
Then Molly cleared away and washed up. She stowed plates and dishes in the rack of the big caravan, so neatly that they never even rattled48 during the journey. The mugs that did duty as cups and saucers were hung in the after-cabin, and knick-knacks placed in cupboards.
“Now, then, Molly, bear a hand,” cried the giant.
“I’se ready, Gourmie, my dear, and bless the Lord, lovie, that we’ve got a fine day and a dry tent to pack. To pack up a wet tent is——”
Down came the tent!
“Honolulu!” he cried, a moment afterwards. “Where on earth is old Molly?”
And a faint voice answered him from under the canvas—a skinny leg with a boot on its foot was protruding51 from under it!{61}
“I be’s a-scrambling in here, Gourmie. You’ve been and gone and lowered the tent right atop of your poor Molly. Oh, my poor old bones!”
But Gourmand soon had her clear. Then she helped him to get out the pegs52 and to smooth and fold the canvas, till it was all small enough to put into the sack—pegs, mallet53, divided pole and all. The bag was hoisted54 on to the cart.
Then the harnessing of the horses began. Two horses to the great caravan, one to Peggy’s bonnie wee one, and one to Willie’s cart. While this was being done, the dwarf boy was as busy as a rag-picker. Every morsel55 of paper or string or stick or straw was collected and placed on the “burning-heap.”[A]
[A] A hole dug in the ground in which gipsies burn rubbish.
“Fire!” cried Fitzroy, as if he stood on a battle-deck.
Willie scratched a match, and lit his pile, after scattering56 oil over it, and in five minutes more it was quite consumed.
“All ready?”
“Ay, ay, sir.”
“Off!”
Crack went the whips; round went the{62} wheels, and away rolled the show, leaving the beautiful sea, with its grays and greens and stretches of sand, and its wild, weedy rocks behind it.
“Good-bye!” cried Peggy, waving her little white handkerchief in the breeze; “good-bye, dear old ocean; we will meet again another day.”
Then the silent woods swallowed them up, and the rooks and starlings alone were left on the old camp pitch.
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收听单词发音
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1
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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2
looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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3
jutted
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| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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4
capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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7
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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8
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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9
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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10
crabs
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| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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11
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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12
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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13
mermaid
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| n.美人鱼 | |
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14
fishy
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| adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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15
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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16
pouting
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| v.撅（嘴）( pout的现在分词 ) | |
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17
eel
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| n.鳗鲡 | |
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18
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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19
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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20
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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21
shrimps
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| n.虾，小虾( shrimp的名词复数 )；矮小的人 | |
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22
dabs
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| 少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练 | |
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23
Neptune
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| n.海王星 | |
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24
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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25
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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26
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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27
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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28
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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29
mermaids
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| n.（传说中的）美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 ) | |
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30
saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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31
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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32
molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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33
caravans
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| （可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队） | |
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34
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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35
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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36
bugle
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| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
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37
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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38
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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39
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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40
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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41
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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42
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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43
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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44
dwarfs
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| n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式） | |
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45
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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46
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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47
pints
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| n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒 | |
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48
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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49
gourmand
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| n.嗜食者 | |
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50
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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51
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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52
pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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53
mallet
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| n.槌棒 | |
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54
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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56
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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