II.
ABOUT THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE AND THE WILD BEASTS.
That very afternoon there was a great rush to see Jedidiah's Noah's Ark,and there was immense enthusiasm about it. Some brave ones opened theroof and looked in upon the growling wild animals. The girls liked thelambs the best; the boys were delighted with the foxes that jumped onthe edge of the boat that formed the ark.
In a day or two there was a flourishing little village built on a smoothplace on the other side of Mr. Dyer's house. The minister's daughter hadbrought a little toy village she had with red roofs, and one of the menscooped out the houses, which were made of one block of wood, but couldnow accommodate Noah and his family, and each one picked out a house tomatch the color of his garments.
Tom Stubbs built a barn of wooden bricks for the larger animals, andLucy Miles brought a pewter bird-cage, with a door that would open andshut, for the birds. The elephant knocked out a brick with his trunk assoon as he went into the barn, but that made a good window for him tolook out of. Jedidiah himself made the loveliest coop for the hen; andthe boys had a nice time over a pond they dug in the mud, for the ducks.
Indeed, it occupied Spinville for some time; and Noah, Shem, and Hamdid not sit down much, but looked very busy. There was a fence builtround the whole village, high enough to keep in the elephants and thegiraffes, though they could look over. There was a bit of pasture-landshut in for the cows, who fell to nibbling as soon as they were put init. A clover-leaf lasted one of the sheep two days. The tinman sentsome little tin dippers no bigger than a thimble, and the children weredelighted to see the animals drink. The boys handed one of the dippersinto the ark for the tigers. The giraffes found a bush just high enoughfor them to eat from. The doves sat on the eaves of the ark, andAgamemnon brought some pickled olives, as he had no olive-branch forthem.
The children were never tired of seeing the camels kneel and rise. Theymade them carry little burdens,--stones that were to be cleared from thefield, chips from the henhouse. Sometimes the camels growled; then thechildren took off a chip or two from their burdens,--the last ounce,they thought.
The "grateful people" sent a large umbrella, used by the umbrella-makerfor a sign, that could be opened over the whole village in case of arain; and the toy-shop man sent a tin teapot, though Mrs. Dyer did notventure to give Noah and his family any real tea; but it was a verypretty teapot, with a red flower upon it. Mrs. Noah liked it, though itwas almost large enough for the whole family to get into.
All this was not the work of a day, by any means. First, all Spinvillehad to come and look at the things, and then it had to discuss the wholeaffair. Mrs. Dyer's knitting got on bravely, for so many of her friendscame in to sit in her best parlor, and talk it all over. Mrs. Dyeragreed with them; she thought it was all very strange. She should bethankful if only the tigers would never get out. She did not like havingtigers running in and out of the house, even if they were no bigger thanyour thimble. She thought it quite likely some of the boys would letthem out some day; but it was no use looking forward. So, day by day,the people came to look at the wonderful village. There was alwayssomething new to see. At last, one of the deacons declared Jedidiahought to charge so much a sight. It was as good a show as the menagerie,any day; and everybody was willing to give ten cents for that, childrenhalf-price.
This made great talk. Should Jedidiah charge for the show, or not? Mr.Dyer would have nothing to say about it. Mrs. Dyer thought they might aswell; then there would be fewer children in her front yard picking atthe currants. At last it was settled that Spinville should pay two centsa sight, children half-price, and strangers could see the village fornothing; but all those who had contributed anything towards the arkshould have a right to visit it with their families, without paying.There was a great rush after this to see who was going to pay. It turnedout only the schoolmaster's and doctor's families had to buy tickets;and when it came to that, Mr. Dyer said he would not let them payanything. So Jedidiah did not gain much by it; but he and a few of hisfriends made some tickets, all the same, printing on them "Noah's Ark.Admittance, two cents; children, half-price;" and a good many childrenbought tickets for the fun of it.
At last there came a crash. One afternoon, Tim Stubbs, in setting up anew pump, gave a knock to the ark, and sent the whole thing over. Theroof snapped open, and out came all the wild beasts. The hyenas laughed,the lions roared, the bears growled, and the tigers leaped about to seewhom they could devour; Noah jumped up on top of the pump; the elephantknocked out a side of the barn, to see what was the matter; all thewives ran for the houses, and there was a general confusion. A leopardseized a young chicken. Mrs. Dyer came out with a rolling-pin in herhand. Tim and Tom Stubbs declared they would catch the animals, ifJedidiah would only find something safe to put them in.
"If we only had a cave!" exclaimed Lucy Miles, who had hidden behind thekitchen door.
Tim and Tom Stubbs caught one of the tigers, just as Jedidiah appearedwith his mother's bandbox. He had thrown his mother's caps and herSunday bonnet on the spare-room floor. They shut the tiger up in thebandbox, then found one of the bears climbing up the pump after Noah.Jedidiah brought a strong string, and tied him to a post. All the restof the boys ran away at first, but ventured to come back and join in thesearch for the rest of the beasts.
The hunt grew quite exciting. One of the boys, who had read Africantravels, prepared a leash of twine, and made a lasso, and with this hesucceeded in catching the two hyenas. Then no one knew if all the beastswere caught or no. The boy who had read the travels could tell a longlist of wild animals that ought to be in the ark. There was therhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the jaguar; there was the leopard, thepanther, the ocelot. Mrs. Dyer put her hands up to her ears in dismay.She could not bear to hear any more of their names; and to think shemight meet them any day, coming in at the wood-house door, or runningoff with one of the chickens!
But the Stubbses thought very likely all these animals never were inthis ark at all, though they might have been in the original Noah's Ark.This was only a play ark, after all, and you could not expect to findevery animal in it. The minister's wife said she did not know what youshould expect. The ark was quite a different one from any she had seen.She had bought them for her children, year in and year out, and she hadnever seen anything of the sort. You might expect a hippopotamus, or anykind of beast. Those she had bought were always of wood, and the legsbroke off easily. You could mend them with Spalding's Glue; but evenSpalding was not as good as it used to be, and you could not dependupon it.
Meanwhile the hunt went on. The Spinville people began to be sorry theyhad ever bought a Noah's Ark. They had expected nothing of the sort. Atlast the two leopards were found,--beautiful creatures, who lashed theirtails wildly; and before long, two hippopotami were discovered in theduck-pond, wallowing in their native element. They were very fierce andwild, and were caught with great difficulty. These were put in thebandbox with the others. It was a strong, old-fashioned box; but it wasfeared it would not last long for the wild beasts. Jedidiah tied it upwith some twine, and it was put for the present in the spare-roomcloset.
Mrs. Dyer did not sleep well that night, though her doors had been shutall day. She dreamed she heard lions all the night long, and was sure arhinoceros could get in at the window. Why had Mr. Dyer ever been sogenerous with his potatoes? Why had he invited all the people to come?Of what use had the Noah's Ark been? Jedidiah had got along without toysbefore; now his head was turned. Better for him to amuse himself diggingpotatoes, or seeing to the squashes, than meddling with the beasts.
And there were the Spinville boys round before breakfast. They werethere, indeed, and began again their search for the beasts. The girlssat at the chamber windows, watching the chase. Under a cabbage-leaf,fast asleep, the stray tiger was found. The boy learned in NaturalHistory went over the terrible list of all the fierce animals. "Yes,there were ocelots and cougars and jaguars, peculiarly shy andstealthy in approaching their prey," so the book said. "There w
as thechibiguasu----" But Jedidiah said he didn't believe _his_ Noahcared for such out-of-the-way beasts; they must have come in since hisark. They had enough to do to catch the regular wild animals, and theseat last they found in some number. They were all seized, and withdifficulty put into a wooden lozenge-box. There was great delight; theremust be all; the ark surely could have held no more. Lions, tigers,leopards, panthers, lynxes, wildcats,--all the animals necessary fora respectable ark, all in twos.
But, oh horror! a jaguar was discovered, also, at the last moment justbefore school. One jaguar, and there must be another somewhere. The onefound answered the description completely: "the body yellow, marked withopen black figures, considerable variety in the marking." A stray jaguarin Spinville! so fierce a beast! No one could be sure of his footsteps.Noah, his sons and their wives, had not been unmoved. Their satisfactionhad been great. They had carried water to the bears, and had looked muchpleased; and now they shook their heads at seeing only one jaguar.
"I think they must be all caught but that one jaguar," said Jedidiah."They look satisfied, and are going about their daily work; and it istime we found some place for the wild beasts. They will come throughmother's bandbox before long."
The boys went to school. There was great consultation all that day,which ended in Tom Stubbs bringing a squirrel-cage. It was just thething, for the wires were near enough to keep the animals in, andeverybody could have a look at them. But how were they to be got intothe squirrel-cage? There came a new question. Tim Stubbs remembered hehad often caught a butterfly under his hat, and a very handsomebutterfly, too, and he was sure he had him; but just as he lifted thebrim of the hat to show the other fellows that he was really there, thebutterfly would be off.
Happily there was no afternoon school, and a grand council of theboys was held, assisted by some of the selectmen. The beasts in thelozenge-box were easily disposed of, for it had a sliding cover, whichwas dexterously raised high enough to let the beasts all into thesquirrel-cage. Then handy Tim Stubbs punched a hole in the bandboxopposite to the entrance of the squirrel-cage, and one by one theleopards and the rest were allowed to make their way into the wiryprison. The tiger made a dash, but in vain; he was imprisoned like therest.
This is our last news from Spinville.
It is more than a month since the Spinville stage set out on its weeklytrip for that place. It was an old stage; the horses were old, theharness was old, the driver was old. It is not then to be wonderedat that in crossing the bridge on the old road, which is so littletravelled that it is never kept in repair, the old wheel was caught ina chink between the boards, the old coach tumbled over, the driver wasthrown from his seat and broke his leg, the horses fell on their knees,and the whole concern was made a complete wreck.
Now, the stage-driver was the owner of the old coach and team. He hadalways said the thing did not pay; he would give it all up. Indeed, heonly had driven to Spinville once a week to see the folks himself.Nobody ever went there, and nobody ever came away, except once a yearMr. Jones, and he had a team of his own. So there is no communicationwith Spinville. That a jaguar is loose is the latest news.
The Last of the Peterkins Page 11