Eight Cousins (Bedtime Story) Part 10

Chapter 10 Rose's Sacrifice There certainly were larks on Campbell's Island next day,

As Charlie has foretold,

And Rose took her part in them,

Like one intent on enjoying every minute to the utmost.

There was a merry breakfast,

A successful fishing,

Expedition,

And then the lobsters came out in full force,

For even Aunt Jessie appeared in red flannel.

There was nothing Uncle Alec could not do in the water,

And the boys tried their best to equal him in strength and skill,

So there was a great diving,

And ducking for every one was bent on distinguishing themselves.

Rose swam out far beyond her depth,

With Uncle to float her back,

And Jessie splashed in the shallow pools with Jamie paddling near,

Nearby like a little whale beside its mother,

While the lads careered about,

Looking like a flock of distracted flamingos,

And acting like the famous dancing party in Ali's Adventures in Wonderland.

Nothing but chowder would have lured them from their gambols in the briny deep.

That time Honored Dish demanded the concentrated action of their almighty minds,

So the water babies came ashore and fell to cooking.

It is unnecessary to say that,

When done,

It was the most remarkable chowder ever cooked,

And the quantity eaten would have amazed the world if the secret had been divulged.

After this extortion,

A siesta was considered the thing,

And people lay about in tents or out as they pleased,

The boys looking like warriors,

Slumbering where they fell.

The elders had just settled to a comfortable nap when the youngsters rose,

Refreshed and ready for further exploits.

A hint sent them all off to the cave,

And there were discovered bows and arrows,

Battle clubs,

Old swords,

And various relics of an interesting nature,

Perched upon a commanding rock,

With Jamie displaying things to her.

Shelby held a series of stirring scenes enacted with great vigor and historical accuracy by her gifted relatives.

Captain Cook was murdered by the natives in the most thrilling manner.

Captain Keat buried untold wealth in the chowder kettle.

You good-for-nothing boys!

You are always bursting out upon me in some ridiculous way,

And I always get taken in because I am not used to such pranks.

Uncle is as bad as the rest,

And it is great fun,

She said,

As the lads came round her,

Half scolding,

Half welcoming,

And wholly enjoying the double surprise.

You were not to come till afternoon,

And Mama was to be here to receive you.

Everything is in a mess now,

Except your tent,

We got that in order the first thing,

And you can sit there and see us work,

Said Archie,

Doing the honours as usual.

Rose felt it in her bones,

As Dolly says,

That something was in the wind and wanted to be off at once,

So I let her come,

And should have kept her away,

An hour longer if your fish had not betrayed you,

Explained Uncle Alec,

Subsiding from a ferocious crucible into his good-natured self again.

As this seat is rather damp,

I think I will rise,

Said Rose,

As the excitement lessened a little.

Several fisky hands helped her up,

And Charlie said,

As he scattered the scarlet garments over the grass with an oar,

We had a jolly good swim before dinner,

And I told the brats to spread these to dry.

Hope you brought your things,

Rose,

For you belong to the lobsters,

You know,

And we can have no end of fun,

Teaching you to die and float,

And treat water.

I didn't bring anything,

Began Rose,

But was interrupted by the brats,

Otherwise Will and Geordie,

Who appeared,

Bearing the big bundle,

So much demoralised by its fall that a red flannel tunic trailed out at one end,

And little blue dressing gown at the other,

While the knobs proved to be a toilet case,

Rubbers and a silver mug.

Oh,

That sly Phoebe,

This was the secret,

And she bundled up those things after I went down to the boat,

Cried Rose with sparkling eyes.

Guess something he smashed inside,

For a bit of a glass fell out,

Observed Will,

As they deposited the bundle at her feet.

Such a girl going anywhere without a glugging glass,

We haven't got one among the whole lot of us,

Added Mac with masculine scorn.

Dandy has,

I caught him touching up his wig behind the trees after our swim,

Cut in Geordie,

Wagging the risib finger at Steve,

Who promptly silenced him by a smart rap on the head,

With the drumstick he had just polished off.

Come,

Come,

You lazy lubbers,

Fall to work,

Or we shall not be ready for mama.

Take Rose's things to her tent,

And tell her all about it,

Prince,

Mac and Steve.

You cut away and bring up the rest of the straw,

And you small chaps clear off the table.

If you have stuffled all you can,

Please,

Uncle,

I'd like your advice about the boundary lines and the best place for the kitchen.

John obeyed the chief,

And Rose was escorted to her tent by Charlie,

Who devoted himself to her service.

She was charmed with her quarters,

And still more so with the program which he unfolded before her eyes as they worked.

We always gap out somewhere in vacation,

And this year we thought we would try the island.

It is handy,

And our fireworks will show off well from here.

Shall we stay over the fort?

Three whole days?

Oh me,

What frolic it will be!

Bless your heart,

We often camp for a week,

We big fellows,

But this year the small chaps wanted to come,

So we let them.

We have great larks,

As you see,

For we have a cave and play Captain Kidd,

And have shipwrecks and races and all sort of games.

Arch and I are rather past that kind of thing now,

But we do it to please the children,

' added Charlie,

With a sudden recollection of his sixteen years.

I had no idea boys had such good times.

Their plays never seemed a bit interesting before,

But I suppose that was because I never knew any boys very well.

Or perhaps you are unusually nice ones,

' observed Rose,

With an artless air of appreciation that was very flattering.

We are a pretty clever set,

I fancy,

But we have a good many advantages,

You see.

They are a tribe of us,

To begin with,

Then our family has been here for ages,

And we have plenty of sponderlegs,

So we can rather lord it over other fellows,

And do as we like.

There,

Ma'am,

You can hang your smashed glass on that nail,

And do up your back hair as fine as you please.

You can have a blue blanket,

Or a red one,

And a straw pillow,

Or an air cushion for your head,

Whichever you like.

You can trim up to any extent,

And be as free and easy as quarks in a wigwam,

For this corner is set apart for you ladies.

And we never cross the line uncle is drawing until we ask leave.

Anything more I can do for you,

Cousin?

No thank you.

I think I will leave the rest till auntie comes,

And go and help you somewhere else if I may.

Yes,

Indeed.

Come and see to the kitchen.

Can you cook?

Asked Charlie,

As he led the way to the rocky nook where Archie was putting up sailcloth awning.

I can make tea and toast bread.

Well,

We'll show you how to fry fish,

And make show there.

Now you just set these pots and pans round tastefully,

And sort of tidy up a bit,

For aunt Jessie insists on doing some of the work,

And I want it to be decent here.

By four o'clock the camp was in order,

And the very worker settled down on lookout rock to watch for Mrs.

Jessie and Jamie,

Who was never far from mama's apron strings.

They looked like a flock of bluebirds,

All being in sailor rig,

With blue ribbon enough flying from the seven hats to have set up a millionaire.

Very tuneful bluebirds they were,

Too,

For all the lads sang,

And the echo of their happy voices reached Mrs.

Jessie long before she saw them.

The moment the boat hoed inside up went the island flag,

And the blue jackets cheered lustily,

As they did on every possible occasion,

Like true young Americans.

This welcome was answered by the flapping of a handkerchief,

And the shrill rah-rah-rah of the one small tar who stood in the stern waving his hat manfully,

While a maternal hand clutched him firmly in the rear.

Little Leopatra,

Landing from her golden galley,

Never received a heartier greeting than,

Dear ma'am,

As she was borne to her tent by the young folk,

For love of whom she smilingly resigned herself to three days of discomfort,

While Jamie immediately attached himself to Rose,

Assuring her of his protection from the manifold perils which might assail them.

Fogged by a long experience that boys are always hungry,

Aunt Jessie soon proposed supper,

And proceeded to get it,

Enveloped in an immense apron with an old hat of Archie's stuck atop of her cap.

Rose helped,

And tried to be as handy as Phoebe,

Though the peculiar style of table she had set made it no easy task.

It was accomplished at last,

And a very happy party lay about under the trees,

Eating and drinking out of anyone's plate and cup,

And quite untroubled by the frequent appearances of ants and spiders in places which these interesting insects are not expected to adorn.

''I never thought I should like to wash dishes,

But I do,

'' said Rose as she sat in a boat after supper,

Lazily rinsing plates in the sea,

And rocking luxuriously as she wiped them.

''Mum is mighty particular,

We just give them a scrub with sand,

And dust them off with a bit of paper.

It is much the best way,

I think,

'' replied Geordie,

Who posed in another boat alongside.

''How Phoebe would like this!

I wonder Uncle did not have her come.

I believe he tried to,

But Dolly was as cross as two sticks,

And said she couldn't spare her.

''I am sorry,

For we all liked the Phoebe bird,

And she would chirp like a good one out here,

Wouldn't she?

She ought to have a holiday like the rest of us.

It is too bad to leave her out,

'' this Toad came back to Rose several times that evening,

For Phoebe would have added much to the little concert they had in the moonlight,

Would have enjoyed the stories Toad being quick at guessing and conundrums,

And laughed with all her heart at the fun.

Mary going to bed would have been the best of all,

For Rose wanted someone to cuddle under the blue blanket with her,

There to whisper and giggle and tell secrets,

As girls delight to do,

Long after the rest were asleep.

Rose lay wide awake,

Excited by the novelty of all about her,

And a thought that had come into her mind.

She heard a city clock strike twelve,

A large star like a mild eye peeped in at the opening of the tent,

And the soft splash of the waves seemed calling her to come out,

And Jessie lay fast asleep,

With Jamie rolled up like a kitten at her feet,

And neither stirred as Rose in her wrapper prepped out to see how the world looked at midnight.

She found it very lovely,

And sat down on a cracker keg,

To enjoy it with a heart full of the innocent sentiment of her years.

Fortunately,

Dr.

Alex saw her before she had time to catch cold,

For coming out to tie back the door flap of his tent for more air.

He beheld the small figure perched in the moonlight,

Having no fear of ghosts,

He quietly approached,

And seeing that she was wide awake,

Said with the hand on her shining hair,

What is my girl doing here?

Having a good time,

Answered Rose,

Not at all startled.

I wonder what she was thinking about with such a sober look.

The story you told of the brave sailor who gave up his place on the raft to the woman and the last drop of water to the poor baby.

People who make sacrifices are very much loved and admired,

Aren't they?

She asked earnestly.

If the sacrifice is a true one,

But many of the bravest never are known,

And get no praise,

That does not lessen their beauty,

Though perhaps it makes them sadder,

For we all like sympathy.

And Dr.

Alex sighed,

A patient sort of sigh.

I suppose you have made a great many,

Would you mind telling me some of them?

Asked Rose,

Arrested by the sigh.

My last was to give up smoking,

Was the very unromantic answer to her pensive question.

Why did you?

Bad example for the boys.

That was very good of you,

Uncle.

Was it hard?

I am ashamed to say it was.

But as a wise old fellow once said,

It is necessary to do right,

It is not necessary to be happy.

Rose pondered over the saying,

As if it pleased her,

And then said,

With a clear bright look,

A real sacrifice is giving up something you want or enjoy very much,

Isn't it?

Yes.

Doing it one's own self,

Because one loves another person very much,

And wants her to be happy.

Yes.

And doing it pleasantly and being glad about it,

And not minding the praise,

If it doesn't come.

Yes,

Dear,

That is the true spirit of self-sacrifice.

You seem to understand it,

And I dare say you will have many chances in your life to try the real thing.

I hope they won't be very hard ones.

I think they will,

Began Rose,

And there stopped short.

Well,

Make one now and go to sleep,

Or my girl will be ill tomorrow,

And then the ants will say,

Camping out was bad for her.

I'll go,

Good night,

And throwing him a kiss,

The little ghost vanished,

Leaving uncle Alec to pace the show and think about some of the unexpected sacrifices that had made him what he was.