were only waiting until the canoes were out of sight.
"Drop the anchor!" shouted Buck when the ship was
close to the island. Pippi and all the other children
watched them in silence from the cave above. The men
dropped anchor, and Jim and Buck jumped
into a skiff and rowed ashore. The crew were given
orders to stay on board.
"Now we'll sneak up to the village and overtake
them," said Jim. "Probably only the women and
children are at home."
"Yes," said Buck, "and besides, there were so many women
in the canoes I should think that only children are left
on the island. I hope they're playing
marbles-ha-ha-ha!" His voice carried clearly
over the water.
"Why?" shouted Pippi from the cave. "Do you
especially like playing marbles? I think it's just as much
fun to play leapfrog."
Jim and Buck turned around in astonishment and saw
Pippi and all the children sticking their heads out from the
cave. A delighted grin spread over their faces.
"There we have the kids," said Jim.
"Perfect," said Buck. "This is in the bag."
But they decided nevertheless to play it safe and be
sly. No one could know where the children kept their pearls,
and therefore it was best to try to win them over. The men
pretended that they hadn't come to Kurrekurredutt
Island to find pearls at all, but were just out for a nice
little excursion. They felt hot and sticky, and
Buck suggested that, to begin with, they go for a
swim.
"I'll row back to the boat and fetch our bathing
trunks," he said. This he did. In the meantime
Jim stood alone on the shore.
"Is there a good beach around here?" he called to the children
in a friendly voice.
"Wonderful," said Pippi. "Absolutely
wonderful for sharks. They come here every day."
"Nonsense," said Jim. "I don't see any
sharks."
But he was a little worried just the same. When Buck
came back with the bathing trunks, Jim told him
what Pippi had said.
"Nonsense," said Buck, and he shouted to Pippi,
"Are you the one who is saying that it's dangerous
to swim here?"
"No said Pippi, "I never said that."
"That's funny," said Jim. "Didn't you just tell
me that there were sharks here?"
Pippi Talks Sense to Jim and Buck
"Yes, that's what I said. But dangerous-no, that
I wouldn't say exactly. My grandfather swam here
last year."
"Well, then," said Buck.
"And Grandfather got back from the hospital already last
Friday," Pippi went on, "with the fanciest
wooden leg you've ever seen on an old man."
She spat thoughtfully into the water. "So I couldn't
really say that it's dangerous. Of course a few
arms and legs do disappear if one swims here. But as
long as wooden legs don't cost more than a dollar
a pair I don't think you should deprive yourself of
an invigorating swim just because of miserliness." She
spat once more.
"My grandfather takes a childish delight in his
wooden leg. He says it is absolutely
irreplaceable when he goes out to fight."
"You know what I think," said Buck. "I think
you're telling whoppers. Your grandfather must be an old
man. I'm sure he doesn't want to be in any
fights."
That's what you think!" cried Pippi in a shrill
voice. "He's the most ill-tempered old man
who ever hit his opponent on the head with a wooden
leg. If he can't fight from morning till night
he's miserable. Then he gets into such a rage that
he bites himself on the nose."
"What nonsense!" said Buck. "No one can bite
himself on the nose."
"Yes, they can," Pippi insisted. "He climbs
up on a chair."
Buck thought about this for a while, but then he swore.
"I
don't feel like listening to your silly chatter any
longer. Come on, Jim, let's get undressed."
"Besides, I'd like to have you know that my grandfather has the
longest nose in the world. He has five parrots and
all of them can sit next to each other on his nose."
By now Buck was really angry. "You little redheaded
vixen, do you know that you're the worst liar I've ever
met? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Are you really
trying to make me believe that five parrots can sit
in a row on your grandfather's nose? Confess that it's
a lie!"
"Yes," said Pippi sadly. "It's a lie."
"There, you see," said Buck. "Isn't that what I
said?"
"It's a terrible, horrible lie," said Pippi, still
sadder.
"That's what I thought from the beginning," said Buck.
"Because the fifth parrot," sobbed Pippi and burst out
into a flood of tears, "the fifth parrot has to stand
on one leg."
Pippi Talks Sense to Jim and Buck
"Get lost," said Buck, and he and Jim went behind
a bush to get undressed.
"Pippi, you don't even have a grandfather," said
Annika reproachfully.
"No," said Pippi gaily,
"must
I have a grandfather?"
Buck was the first one to come out in his bathing trunks.
He made an elegant dive from a cliff into the
sea and swam out. The children up in the cave watched with
great interest. Then they spotted a shark fin, which
flashed above the surface of the water for a second.
"Shark, shark!" cried Momo.
Buck, who was treading water and enjoying himself
immensely, turned around and saw the terrible
creature coming toward him.
There has probably never been anyone who could
swim as fast as Buck swam then. In two split
seconds he had reached shore and rushed out of the
water. He was both frightened and furious, and it
seemed as if he thought it was all Pippi's fault
that there were sharks in the water.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, you nasty brat?" he
screamed. The sea is full of sharks."
"Have I said anything else?" Pippi asked
sweetly, and tilted her head to one side. "I
don't always lie, you see."
Jim and Buck went behind the bush to get dressed
again. They felt that now the time had come to begin thinking
about the pearls. No one could tell how long
Captain Longstocking and the others were going to be
away.
"Listen, children," said Buck. "I heard someone say
that there were some good oyster beds in these regions. Do you
know if it's true?"
"I'll say," said Pippi. "Oyster shells go
crunch-crunch under your feet wherever you walk down
there on the bottom of the sea. Go down and see for
yourself."
But Buck didn't want to do that.
"There are great big pearls in every oyster," said
Pippi. "About like this one." She held up a
giant, shimmering pearl.
Jim and Buck got so excited that they could hardly
stand still.
"Do you have any more of those?" said Jim. "We would like
to buy them from you."
This was a lie. Jim and Buck had no money with which
to buy pearls. They only wanted to get them
dishonestly.
"Yes, we have at least ten or twelve quarts of
pearls here in the cave," said Pippi.
Jim and Buck were unable to bide their delight.
"Wonderful," said Buck. "Bring them here and
we'll buy them all."
Pippi Talks Sense to Jim and Buck
"Oh no," said Pippi. "What are the poor children
going to use to play marbles with afterward? Have you thought of
that?"
There was a lot of discussion back and forth before Jim and
Buck realized that it would be impossible to get the
pearls by clever maneuvering. But what they couldn't
get by clever maneuvering, they decided to take
by force. Now they at least knew where the pearls were.
The only thing 'they had to do was climb over to the cave
and take them.
Climb over to the cave-yes, that was the rub. During
the discussion Pippi had carefully removed the
hibiscus rope, which was now safely in the cave.
Jim and Buck didn't think that the climb over to the
cave looked very inviting. But there didn't seem
to be any other way to get the pearls.
"You do it, Jim," said Buck.
"No, you do it, Buck," said Jim;
"You do it, Jim"
said Buck. He was stronger than Jim. So Jim
started climbing. He frantically grabbed hold of
all the jutting rocks he could reach. Cold sweat
was pouring down his back.
"Hold on, for heaven's sake, so you won't fall
down," said Pippi in an encouraging way.
Then Jim fell in. Buck was shouting and cursing
on the beach. Jim was also screaming because he saw two
sharks heading in his direction. When they
were no more than three feet from him, Pippi threw
down a cocoanut right in front of their snouts. That
scared them just long enough for Jim to swim to the shore and
crawl up on the little plateau. The water was running
in rivulets from his clothes and he looked miserable.
Buck was scolding him.
"Do it yourself, and you'll see how easy it is," said
Jim.
"Now
I'll
show you how," said Buck and started to climb.
All the children watched him. Annika was almost a bit
frightened as she watched him coming closer.
"Oh-oh, don't climb there, you'll fall
in," said Pippi.
"Where?" said Buck.
"There," said Pippi, pointing. Buck looked
down.
"A lot of cocoanuts get wasted this way," said
Pippi a moment later when she had thrown one in the
sea to prevent the sharks from eating up Buck, who was
desperately floundering in the water. But up he
came, mad as a hornet, and he certainly
wasn't one to be afraid. He immediately started
climbing again, because he had made up, his mind once
and for all to make his way into the cave and get his hands
on the pearls.
This time he managed much better. When he was
Pippi Talks Sense to Jim and Buck
almost at the opening of the cave he called out
triumphantly, "Now, you little demons, this time
you're going to get it."
Then Pippi stuck out her index finger and poked him
in the stomach.
There was a splash.
"You could at least have taken this with you when you took
off!" Pippi shouted after him as she landed a
cocoanut on the snout of a shark that was coming
too close. But more sharks came and she had to throw more
cocoanuts. One of them hit Buck on the head.
"Oh dear, was that you?" said Pippi when Buck
yelled. "From up here you look like a big, nasty
shark."
Jim and Buck now decided to sit it out until the
children were forced to come down.
"When they get hungry they'll leave there," said
Buck grimly. "And then they'll see something."
He shouted to the children, "I feel sorry for you if
you're going to have to sit in that cave until you starve
to death!"
"You have a kind heart," said Pippi, "but you won't
have to worry about us for the next two weeks. Then we
might have to start rationing the cocoanuts a little."
Pippi Talks Sense to Jim and Buck
backslash
She cracked a big cocoanut, drank the milk,
and ate the wonderful meat.
Jim and Buck swore. The sun was setting and they
began making preparations to spend the night ashore.
They didn't dare row out to the steamer to sleep because then
the children could get away with all the pearls. They lay
down on the hard rocks in their wet clothes.
They were very uncomfortable.
Up in the cave all the children were merrily sitting and
eating cocoanuts and mashed breadfruit. It was so
good. The whole situation was so exciting and pleasant.
Once in a while they would stick their heads out
to look at Jim and Buck. By now it was so dark that
they could see only a fuzzy outline of the men on the
plateau below. But they could still hear them swearing down
there.
Suddenly there was a shower of the violent tropical
kind. The rain came down in torrents. Pippi
stuck the tip of her nose out of the cave. "You
certainly are the lucky ones!" she shouted to Jim and
Buck.
"What do you mean by that?" said Buck hopefully.
He thought that the children had perhaps changed their minds and
wanted to give them the pearls. "What do you mean
by saying we're lucky?"
"I mean, just think how lucky it is that you were
loo I
Pippi in the South Seas
already soaked before this rainstorm came. Otherwise you
would have got soaking wet in this rain."
More swearing could be heard from down on the plateau, but
it was impossible to tell whether it was Jim
or Buck.
"Good night, and sleep well," said Pippi.
"Because that's what we're going to do now."
The children lay down on the floor of the cave. Tommy
and Annika lay one on either side of Pippi,
holding her hands. They were quite comfortable. It was so warm
and snug in the cave. Outside the rain was pouring
down.
Pippi
Gets Bored
with Jim and Buck
The children slept soundly all night. But Jim and
Buck did not. They kept on grumbling about the
rain, and when it stopped they started to argue about whose
fault it was that they hadn't been able to get hold of the
pearls and which one of them had really had the stupid
idea of going to Kurrekur-redutt Island in the
first place. And when the sun rose and dried, their
clothes, and Pippi's cheerful face popped out of the
cave, saying good morning, they were more determined than
ever to get the pearls and leave the
island as rich men.
But they couldn't figure out how to do it.
While all this was going on, Pippi's horse had
begun to wonder where Pippi and Tommy and Annika
had disappeared to. Mr. Nilsson had
returned from his family reunion in the jungle and
he was wondering the same thing. He also wondered what
Pippi
Pippi in the South Seas
would say when she found out that he had lost his
straw hat.
Mr. Nilsson jumped up on the horse's tail
and the horse trotted off to find Pippi. Finally he
found his way to the south side of the island. That is where
he saw Pippi stick her head out of the cave, and
he whinnied happily.
"Look, Pippi, there's your horse!" cried
Tommy.
"And Mr. Nilsson is sitting on his tail,"
said Annika.
Jim and Buck heard this. They realized that the
horse who was trotting along the beach belonged
to Pippi, the redheaded girl up in the cave.
Buck went and grabbed the horse by the mane.
"Now listen, you little monster," he shouted to Pippi,
"I'm going to kill your horse!"
"You're going to kill my horse whom I love so
dearly?" said Pippi. "My nice, good horse!
You can't mean it."
"Yes, I'll probably have to," said
Buck. "That is, if you don't want to come here and
give us all the pearls. All of them, do you hear!
Otherwise I'll kill the horse this instant."
Pippi looked at him gravely. "Please," she
said. "I'm begging you-don't kill my horse, and
do let the children keep their pearls."
Pippi Gets Bored with Jim and Buck
backslash
"You heard me," Buck said. "Hand over the pearls
this minute! Or else-was
And then in a low voice he said to Jim, "Just wait
until she comes with the pearls. Then I'll beat her
black and blue to pay her back for this miserable
rainy night. As for the horse, we'll take him
along on board and sell him on another island."
He shouted to Pippi, "Well, which is it going
to be? Are you coming, or aren't you?"
"Yes, I'll come," said Pippi. "But don't
forget that you asked for it."
She skipped along the projecting rocks as
lightly as if she had been walking down a garden
path and jumped down to the plateau. She stopped in
front of Buck. There she stood, little and thin, with
her two pigtails pointing straight out.
There was a dangerous look in her eyes.
"Where are the pearls, you little beast?" shouted Buck.
"There aren't going to be any pearls today. You'll have
to play leapfrog instead."
Then Buck let out a roar which made Annika
tremble way up in the cave. "I'm going to kill
both you and the horse!" he yelled as he lunged
toward Pippi.
'Take it easy, my good man," said Pippi.
She
grabbed him around the waist and threw him ten feet up
in the air. He banged himself quite hard on the rocks
as he came down. Then Jim came to life. He
raised his arm to give Pippi a terrible blow, but
she jumped aside with a little chuckle. A second
later Jim was also on his way up into the clear
morning sky. There they sat, Jim and Buck, on
the rock, groaning. Pippi walked up and grabbed
them, one in each fist.
"You
can't
be as anxious to play marbles as you seem to be," she
said. "There has to be some limit to your playfulness."
She carried them down to the skiff and tossed them in.
"Now you go home to your mothers and ask them
to give you five cents for marbles," she said. "You'll
find them just as easy to play with."
A little while later the steamer was chugging away from
Kurrekurredutt Island. Since then it has never
been seen in those waters.
Pippi patted her horse. Mr. Nilsson
jumped up on her shoulder. Beyond the outermost tip
of the island a whole row of canoes came into sight.
It was Captain Longstocking and his people returning
home after a successful hunt. Pippi shouted and
waved at them and they waved back with their paddles.
Then Pippi quickly put up the rope again so that
Tommy and Annika and the others could get down
Pippi Gets Bored with Jim and Buck
from the cave. And when the canoes came gliding in
to the little inlet beside the
Hoptoad
a short time later, the whole crowd of children was there
to greet them.
Captain Longstocking embraced Pippi. "Has
everything been peaceful?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, completely peaceful," said Pippi.
"But Pippi, how can you say that?" said Annika.
"We've had terrible things happen."
"Oh, yes, I forgot," said Pippi. "No, it
hasn't been completely peaceful, Papa
Efraim. As soon as you turn your back, things
start to happen."
"But my dear child, what's happened?" said Captain
Longstocking anxiously.
"Something really terrible," said Pippi. "Mr.
Nilsson lost his straw hat."
Pippi Leaves
Kurrekurredutt
island
Wonderful days followed-wonderful days in a warm,
wonderful world full of sunshine, with the blue sea
Pippi in the South Seas Page 6