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Page 34
"Floating, floating over the sea,
Blithe of heart and gay are we.
Riding lightly over the foam,
O'er the sea 'tis joy to roam."
"I b'lieve I could row," said Rose.
"Huh! Girls can't do much," said Donald roughly.
"Girls CAN!" cried Polly, vexed that the boy should annoy Rose.
"Huh! Not MUCH!" he replied.
He was not in the least interested in their merry chatter. He felt sure
that small girls were of no use.
He talked very loudly of lines, spars, windlass and davits. To be sure,
he did not know one from the other, but then he knew that the little
girls did not know, and he hoped to impress them.
"What ARE those things?" Polly asked, when he had been talking for some
time, and constantly using names that they did not know.
"Oh, a man couldn't tell girls so they'd understand," said Donald,
squaring his shoulders and trying to look as large as possible.
"A MAN!" cried Polly, and although neither had meant to do it, both
laughed merrily.
Donald was angry, too angry to reply, but under his breath he muttered:
"Laugh if ye want ter, but I'll get even!"
It was in vain that Rose and Polly tried to talk with him.
He only glowered, and was too sullen to answer the questions that they
asked, and for a time they were silent. Rose spoke first.
"Why are you rowing us back?" she cried. "We don't want to go back yet!"
"Got ter go back a minute," said the boy, "just for a arrant."
He rowed close to a short pile that was near the shore and in very
shallow water. There was a huge iron ring attached to the pile, used for
mooring small boats.
Donald, who had been watching the shore very closely, now, to hide his
interest, bent all his energy in fastening the chain of the boat to the
ring.
"There!" he said, "that's fast, an' you girls are safe if you sit still
till I come back."
He sprang from the boat, and waded through the shallow water, then ran
up on the beach, shouting:
"Jock! Jock! Wait a minute!"
"Donald! Don't stay long!" cried Rose, and Polly echoed her words, but
Donald either did not, or would not hear!
They watched the two boys as they stood for a moment talking, then ran
down the beach.
"I don't think he was very nice to go off and leave us here while he
does errands," said Polly.
"He wasn't nice at all," said Rose, "and I'll tell Uncle John, if he
gets here first."
"Is this chain VERY long?" Polly asked a moment later.
"I don't know," said Rose, looking over the side of the boat and down
into the water.
"I don't see it," she said a moment later, "why did you ask that,
Polly?"
"Oh, I was only wondering how far we could float before the chain would
look tight. We've gone ever so far, and the boat doesn't tug at it yet!"
Polly said.
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