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Coco Bolo: King of the Floating Island

<h2>CHAPTER III THE ROYAL YACHT</h2> It was a very pretty boat, evidently made of glass, for the children could see right through it; and though it had neither mast nor oars, it had, at any rate, a wheel, behind which was standing a little man dressed in a sailor's suit of the same bright colors as the Admiral's. "The Crew," remarked that gentleman, nodding toward the new sailor-man, who, as soon as he saw that the little girls were looking at him, smiled in the most cordial manner and spun the wheel round so fast that the spokes hummed in the air. "If you are quite ready," said the Admiral, raising his hat, "we'll get aboard;" and stepping down to the edge of the water he put his hands to his mouth and roared out at the very top of his voice: "Boat, ahoy!" Though, really, it seemed hardly necessary to shout so loud, as the boat was not more than four feet from the shore. "Perhaps the Crew is deaf," suggested Frances, sagely. [Pg 32] Perhaps he was, but, if so, he was not so deaf but that he could hear what was shouted to him at four feet distance, for he at once touched his cap, spun the wheel round the other way, and leaving it spinning walked to the bow of the boat, where, leaning out over the water, he pulled up a little anchor. "Weigh the anchor!" shouted the Admiral. "Do you think it's worth while?" suggested the Crew, politely touching his cap. "We've weighed it once this morning already—four pounds, six ounces." "That's true. Well, never mind, then. Pitch it ashore." Thereupon, the Crew, holding the coil of rope in his left hand, swung the anchor round and round his head and threw it to the Admiral. Instead of catching it in his hands, or getting out of its way altogether, as most people would have done, and as the children of course thought he would do, the Admiral whipped off his cocked hat and bending forward allowed the anchor to hit him crack on the top of his head. "Oh!" cried both little girls, running forward. "Did it hurt you very badly?" "Not at all, thank you," replied the Admiral with a genial smile, as he stooped to pick up the anchor. [Pg 33] "A little thing like that doesn't hurt a Boxwood." <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/037.jpg" width-obs="410" height-obs="600" alt="" /> <div class="caption">Allowed the anchor to hit him</div> </div> [Pg 35] So saying, he began to pull upon the rope, drawing the boat close up to the shore, when he remarked: "Now, your Royal Highnesses, if you'll step aboard we'll start at once." "Why do you keep on calling us 'Royal Highnesses'?" asked Margaret; for neither she nor Frances had ever heard the title before and they did not know what it meant. "Oh, excuse me!" cried the Admiral, apologetically. "I ought to have guessed it. Your Royal Highnesses prefer to travel incog?" "In what?" asked Margaret. "I thought we were to travel in the boat." "Ha, ha!" laughed the Admiral, clapping his hands. "Very good! Very good! Wasn't that good, Bo'sun?" "A. 1 at Lloyd's," replied the Crew. "We must tell that to the King." The children had not the least idea what the Admiral and the Crew were laughing about, nor what the Crew meant by saying "A. 1 at Lloyd's," but it was evident that Margaret had made a capital joke by accident, and so, trying to look as though they understood quite well, they smiled pleasantly at the two naval men and stepped upon the shelf of rock[Pg 36] beside which the boat was lying. Now that it was close up, the children were better able to see what the royal yacht was like. Apparently its frame work was made of the skeleton of a very big fish turned upside down, the fish's backbone forming the keel, and its ribs the ribs of the boat. The whole had been coated over with glass, so that the little girls, standing above it and looking down into the boat, could see right through the bottom of it. They could see the seaweeds on the rocks below and the little fishes flipping about. The bottom of the boat, indeed, being transparent and therefore invisible, stepping into it looked so very much like stepping into the sea that for a moment Margaret and Frances felt some little doubt about venturing. But seeing that the Crew in the stern was leaning out, holding to the rock with both hands, while the Admiral, having first laid aside his cocked hat, was most obligingly lying flat on his gold-laced waistcoat, holding the boat at its other end to steady it, they hesitated no longer, but first removing their sandals for fear their heels might crack the glass, they stepped in, taking their places side by side on the middle seat. "What nice soft cushions!" exclaimed Margaret. [Pg 37] "And see! One of them is marked in the corner with an 'F' and the other with an 'M'." "'F' for Frances and 'M' for Margaret," remarked her sister, seating herself on her own cushion and placing her sandals in her lap. "Come on, Periwinkle!" she cried, chirruping encouragingly to the yellow plush puppy. "Come on, then: don't be afraid!" Periwinkle, however was not to be persuaded. Standing on the edge of the rock, looking down into the boat, he, too, could see the fishes passing beneath it, and not knowing that the boat had a glass bottom, he declined to jump into the water—as he supposed. Frances, therefore, reached out, and taking her pet by the back of his neck, she pulled him in and set him down at her feet. For a moment the puppy struggled to jump out again, when a big fish, passing just under his nose, diverted his attention. Forgetting his fears, Periwinkle snapped at the fish, and, of course, banged his nose on the glass bottom of the boat, making himself sneeze with great gusto; after which, thinking that it was the fish that had banged him on the nose, he contented himself with barking at them when they glided under the boat. He was a very sensible puppy, considering that he was only stuffed with excelsior. [Pg 38] As soon as he saw that they were all comfortably settled, the Admiral jumped to his feet, clapped his cocked hat on his head, gathered up the rope, and tucking the anchor under his arm, he stepped into the bows. "Eight bells!" he roared. At this command, the Crew hastily felt in all his pockets and brought out a number of little bells, which he rang one after the other. "That's only seven!" cried the Admiral. "Where's the other?" "You have it yourself," replied the Crew. "Oh, yes. So I have. Excuse me," said the Admiral, politely; and thereupon he took the eighth bell out of his pocket and rang that one, too. "Why do you ring eight bells?" asked Margaret. "I thought you'd like it," was the Admiral's unexpected reply. "Oh! Yes. Thank you very much. I do," said Margaret. "It's very pretty," added Frances. "Won't you ring them again?" "I'm afraid we can't," replied the Admiral, regretfully. "It's against the rules of the navy. We only ring eight bells once a day at mid-day, or, on occasions like this, once extra for a treat, so—Ah![Pg 39] Happy thought! How's the sun?" he shouted. "It's shining away like one o'clock," replied the Crew, touching his cap. "Just like one o'clock?" inquired the Admiral in an insinuating tone. "Well," replied the Crew, evidently anxious to accommodate, "it's a good deal like twelve o'clock, too." "Good!" cried the Admiral, clapping his hands. "A poor excuse is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. We'll ring 'em again. Eight bells!" he roared, so loudly that it made his eyes water. So the Admiral and the Crew rang eight bells all over again, after which the Admiral threw his bell to the Crew, who very cleverly caught it and stuffed it into his pocket, and having gathered up the other seven bells and put them into his pockets, too, he laid his hands on the spokes of the wheel and waited for further orders. "How's her head?" cried the Admiral. "North, south, east, west," replied the Crew, with all the smartness of a man-o'-war's man. "Good!" shouted the Admiral. "Cast off!" Not knowing what "Cast off" might mean, the two little girls turned their heads to see what the Crew was going to do. As far as they could perceive,[Pg 40] however, "Cast off" did not mean anything at all, for the Crew never moved, but stood there smiling away over the top of the wheel as though he were waiting to be photographed. "Why did you say, 'Cast off'?" inquired Margaret of the Admiral. "What does it mean?" "It means, untie the ship," replied the Admiral. "But the ship is untied," Margaret objected. "I know. It's just a matter of form. Now, if you are quite ready, we'll start at once." "Quite ready, thank you," replied both little girls, eagerly; for there seemed to be so many forms and ceremonies that they began to fear they might be late for the garden party. "Starboard!" shouted the Admiral. Whereupon the Crew gave the wheel a spang with his right hand which sent it spinning at a great rate, at the same time glancing out of the corners of his eyes at the two passengers to see what they thought of his cleverness. "Good!" cried Margaret and Frances, clapping their hands; at which the Crew, beaming with pleasure, touched his cap and bowed. In doing so, however, he forgot the wheel, and one of the spokes hit him such a crack on the right side of his nose that the wheel stopped spinning. [Pg 41] "Oh!" cried both children. "That must have hurt!" "Not at all, thank your Ladyships," replied the Crew, smiling away just as cheerfully as ever. "What a brave little sailor-man you are," said Frances, admiringly. "Most people would have wanted to cry after getting such a knock." "Excuse me, Ladies," the Admiral here interposed, very politely. "Pray excuse me, but it is against the rules of the navy to speak to the man at the wheel." "Oh, is it?" replied Margaret and Frances. "We're sorry. We didn't know that." "Don't mention it," said the Admiral, pleasantly. "It's of no consequence." And turning to the Crew, he asked: "It didn't break your nose, did it? Because you had better mend it at once if it did. The glue is in the medicine chest." "It's all right, sir, thank you," replied the Crew, tapping his nose with his knuckles. "Only dented. No harm done." "Very well; then we'll proceed. Starboard!" he shouted once more. "You said 'Starboard' last time," remonstrated the Crew, touching his cap. "Oh, yes. So I did. Thank you. Let me see:[Pg 42] what comes next? Oh, yes. Port!" The Crew, who was only waiting for the word, spun the wheel the other way; such a spin that the spokes hummed like the piping of a mosquito. "Fine spin!" cried Margaret, enthusiastically, clapping her hands again. "Yes. How fast it goes!" said Frances. "You can't even see the spokes." Hearing this remark, the Crew, delighted with the compliment, smiled immensely, and stooping down with his hands on his knees he peeped through the wheel at them. "Peek-a-boo!" cried Frances, quite forgetting the rules of the navy. For though the Crew was presumably a grown up sailor-man, he was so small and so neat and so bright-colored and so merry-looking that it was quite impossible to take him seriously. At this moment the boat started. [Pg 43] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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