|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 11
"Just you come along with us, Jack, and we will show you what we have
found," invited Madge. "I think the girls are ready. We are. Here
come Eleanor and Lillian. Miss Lillian Seldon, I wish to present my
cousin, Mr. Jack Bolling. Where is Phil?"
While Lillian, looking unusually lovely in her gown of pale lavender
organdie, with a cream-colored hat covered with violets, was shaking
hands with Jack, Phyllis Alden came down the hall with a slight frown
on her face.
Hadn't she and Madge vowed within themselves and to each other never to
ask a man's help in anything they planned to do? And here was Madge
introducing her cousin into their plan the very first chance she had.
But in this Phil was mistaken.
Madge had made no explanations to Jack, and her cousin asked her no
questions as the party started on their walk. When they came to the
line of canal boats that the girls had seen the afternoon before a halt
was made.
"There is our houseboat!" cried Madge, waving her hand toward the half
dozen disreputable looking canal boats huddled close together.
"Where?" asked Jack in amazement.
"Oh, I don't know just exactly where," returned Madge with twinkling
eyes. "Everyone look here, please." She took two large squares of
white paper out of her bag. "You see, it is this way, Jack: We found
that to rent a houseboat takes such a lot of money that we decided
yesterday, to try to turn one of these old canal boats into a
houseboat, and I have drawn the plans of what I think ought to be done."
Madge, who had a decided talent for drawing, had sat up late into the
night to make her two sketches. One pictured the shanty boat as it
was, dingy and dirty, with a broken-down cabin of two rooms at the
stern. In the second drawing Madge's fairy wand, which was her gift of
imagination, had quite transformed the ugly boat. The deck of the
canal boat was about forty feet long, with a twelve-foot beam. To the
two rooms, which the ordinary shanty boat contains, she had added
another two, forming an oblong cabin, with four windows on each side
and a flat roof. The flat roof formed the second deck of the
prospective houseboat. It had a small railing around it, and a pair of
steps that led up from the outside to the upper deck. Madge had
decorated her fairy ship with garlands of flowers that hung far over
the sides of the deck.
Jack Bolling looked at the drawing a long time without saying a word.
"Don't you think it can be done, Jack?" inquired Madge eagerly. "You
see, this old boat could be cleaned and painted, and any good carpenter
could put up the extra rooms."
"Right you are, Madge," Jack answered at last, making a low bow. "Hats
off to the ladies, as usual. Who is that queer-looking customer coming
this way?"
"He is the man who is to see about our canal boat," answered Phil, as
though they were already in possession.
Madge had gone forward. "Have you found the boat for us?" she
inquired. "I simply can't wait to find out."
The man grinned. "There is one towed alongside of mine that you might
be able to git. I had a hard time finding it."
"That is all right," declared Jack, stepping forward, "you will be paid
for your work. Will you please take us out to look at the boat?"
"Got to cross my shanty to git to it," the man replied, leading the way
across a rickety gang-plank.
There were three or four dirty children playing on the deck of his boat
and a thin, yellow dog. At the open door of the shanty kitchen stood
the figure of a girl. She had on the faded calico dress of the day
before; she was barefooted and her hair was ragged and unkempt. But as
Jack Bolling and the four girls glanced idly at her a start of surprise
ran through each one of these. Jack stopped for an instant, and
instinctively took off his hat. Phil Alden whispered in Madge's ear,
"I never saw any one so beautiful in my life," and Madge mutely agreed.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|