Barty Crusoe and His Man Saturday. Burnett Frances Hodgson

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      "It is," answered the Good Wolf. "I chose the kind – like Robinson Crusoe's, you know."

      "It is a very nice one," said Barty, "and I am much obliged to you." Then he dug his toe into the sand a little. "I am just thinking about my mother," he said while he was doing it.

      The Good Wolf looked as cheerful as ever. "I had something in my pink ear which I shook out as we passed your cottage," he chuckled. "It's a kind of scent like mignonette and it makes mothers forget the time. It's very useful in case of long journeys, because when you come back they never say 'where have you been?' They don't know how long you have been away. I shook out a whole lot when we passed your house and I heard your mother say 'how sweet the mignonette smells to-day!'"

      Barty's face was quite cheerful by the time the Good Wolf had finished. "I'm so glad I know you," he said. "You can do everything, can't you?" The Good Wolf looked thoughtful again (which makes three times), and he scratched his ear with his hind foot more seriously than ever.

      "Look here," he said. "There is something I shall be obliged to tell you."

      "What is it?" asked Barty, feeling very much interested.

      "I can't do everything on desert islands."

      "Can't you shake things out of your ears?" exclaimed Barty.

      "No," answered the Good Wolf. "I won't deceive you. I can't."

      Barty could hardly gasp out "Why?"

      "Just cast your eye on them, just look at them," said the Good Wolf. "You have been too much excited to notice them before. Do they look as if I could shake things out of them?"

      Barty did look at them and he did gasp then. His voice was almost a whisper. "No," he answered.

      The tall pink ear and the tall blue ear had dwindled until they were only ordinary Bad Wolf ear size. "There is something in the air of desert islands that makes them dwindle away," the Good Wolf explained. "I could not shake a pin out of them now."

      Barty drew a long breath, stood up straight and dug his strong little hands into his pockets. "Well," he said cheerfully, "all right. I asked for a desert island and I've got one. We shall have to look for everything and make everything exactly like Robinson Crusoe did. I believe it will be more fun. Don't you?"

      "Sure of it," chuckled the Good Wolf. "Quite sure of it. If we could shake everything out of our ears when we wanted it, it would be scarcely any fun at all. It doesn't make me feel mournful."

      "It doesn't make me feel mournful either," said Barty. "Think what a lot of things we shall have to do."

      "Yes," the Good Wolf answered. "We shall have to find a place to sleep in and things to eat and a fire to cook them with."

      "I wonder where we shall find the fire?" said Barty.

      "I don't know yet," the Good Wolf answered, "but on Robinson Crusoe's Desert Island you did find things somehow."

      "It will be great fun looking for them – like playing hide-and-seek," Barty said.

      There seemed so many new things to do that he did not know where to begin first. But the little curling edges of the waves which came spreading out on the white sand seemed just for that minute to be nicer than anything else. So he sat down and began to take off his shoes and stockings.

      "I am going to wade," he said. "I never waded in my life. I forgot desert islands were the seaside."

      It was so cool and lovely and splashy and it was such fun to pretend he was going to let a wave catch him and then turn and run, shouting and laughing away from it, that for a few moments he almost forgot about the Good Wolf. But at last as he was running away from a big wave, he saw him come galloping along the beach as if he had been somewhere and was returning.

      "Where did you go?" called Barty.

      "Come along with me," said the Good Wolf, "and I will show you."

      They turned and went back to where the rocks were. There was a large circle of them and inside the circle was a pool of quiet, clear water. "Here is something better than wading," said the Good Wolf. "I felt sure this was here. It is just the kind of a place you find on a desert island when you want to learn to swim. Take off your clothes and I will take you in and teach you."

      Barty took off his clothes in one minute and a half.

      "Come on," said the Good Wolf. "Catch hold of my hair and hold tight, just at first." And in he jumped and Barty with him.

      The water had been warmed by the sun and was as clear as crystal. It wasn't too deep, either.

      "Do exactly as I do," the Good Wolf said when they were splashing about together. He could swim splendidly, and Barty imitated him. At first he held on to his friend's thick, shaggy coat with one hand and paddled with the other, and kicked his legs. When he had learned what to do with his hands and feet the Good Wolf made him splash about in the shallower places until he began to feel quite brave, and actually swam a few strokes alone.

      "I never, never thought I should learn to swim," he kept shouting joyfully. "See, I'm keeping up all by myself."

      "Of course you will learn to swim," said the Good Wolf. "It is one of the first things you have to do when you are wrecked on a desert island." By the time they decided to come out of the water Barty knew that it would not be long before he could swim as if he were a little fish. He felt so proud and happy that he sang out loud as he run up and down in the sun to dry himself before he put on his clothes again. There are no towels on desert islands.

      "What shall we do next?" asked Barty when he had finished dressing.

      "Well," said the Good Wolf, "supposing now that I could shake things out of my ears what do you think you should ask me to shake out first?"

      Barty did not think many minutes.

      "My belt," said Barty, "is rather loose by this time. If you could shake things out I think I should ask you to shake out some dinner."

      "It's what I should have chosen myself," said the Good Wolf. "What Robinson Crusoe did on his desert island when he wanted his dinner, was to go and look for it until he found it."

      "Yes," said Barty, "I suppose we shall have to go and look too."

      "All right, it's part of the game," said the Good Wolf. Then he looked at Barty a little anxiously. "Are you very hungry?" he inquired.

      "Yes," said Barty, quite like a soldier. "So was Robinson Crusoe. That's part of the game, too."

      "Come on," said the Good Wolf. "You are a good companion to be shipwrecked with. There are boys of your age who might have cried and said they wanted to go home."

      "Oh, but I said a desert island," answered Barty. "And I meant a desert island. And it will be splendid finding something good to eat when your belt is as loose as mine."

      The Good Wolf smiled a smile which reach to his ears, and off they went towards the place where the trees were.

      CHAPTER TWO

      AS Barty and the Wolf walked along together they talked about Robinson Crusoe in the book.

      "His ship was wrecked on the rocks and broken all to pieces," СКАЧАТЬ