by David Cory
Ham rescues the Polar Bears from the iceberg.]
A THRILLING RESCUE
We're off! we're off! we're off again To sail upon the rolling main. The ice no longer holds us fast, We're sailing safe and free at last!
This is what the Weathercock sang loud and clear the next morning.
It woke up Marjorie with a start, and running to the porthole she saw thatthey were once more upon the ocean blue.
"How did it happen?" she asked, turning to her faithful friend on theflagpole, who was still crowing and flapping his wings at a great rate."How did it all happen?"
"While you were asleep, my dear little Madge," answered the Weathercock.
"I didn't ask you when, I asked you how," laughed Marjorie, for she wasdelighted, you see, to be once more sailing over the great big ocean.
"You'd better not ask me any more questions," said the Weathercockquickly. "You just better hurry up and dress and ask Capt. Noah what he isgoing to do about the castaways."
"The what?" gasped Marjorie.
"The castaways. The two polar bears who are still on the iceberg."
"Goodness gracious!" she cried. "I'll hurry and get on my boots. I musttell Capt. Noah at once."
In a few minutes she was running down to the lower cabin.
"Capt. Noah! Capt. Noah!" she shouted. "Capt. Noah, the polar bears areleft on the iceberg!"
The captain, who had overslept himself, put his head out of his cabindoor.
"What is all the excitement about?" he asked sleepily.
"The bears are left on the iceberg!" shouted Marjorie again.
"Well, that's all right. I told them they could stay out all night. Theywill come aboard for breakfast, no doubt!"
"They can't! They can't!" cried Marjorie in great excitement. "The Ark isafloat again and we are sailing away."
"Blubber and rubber!" exclaimed the captain, now even more excited thanthe little girl.
"Mother!" he cried, "the Ark's afloat and two of our passengers are stillashore!"
Mrs. Noah opened her eyes.
"What did you say, my dear?" she asked, sleepily.
The captain by this time had pulled on his sailor suit and, closing thecabin door with a bang, rushed out on deck, with Marjorie close at hisheels.
In the distance the iceberg could be seen indistinctly through the morningmist.
"Hard-a-port!" shouted Capt. Noah.
Mr. Jonah, who was at the wheel, woke up with a start. He was so tiredwith cutting the ice the day before that he had fallen sound asleep at hispost.
"You landlubber," cried Capt. Noah. "What do you mean by falling asleep?"
"This is my first experience before the mast," apologized poor Jonah."I've always been a passenger. Please don't get provoked."
"Provoked!" yelled Capt. Noah. "Provoked! I feel like throwing youoverboard!"
"Steer for the iceberg!"
"I won't throw you overboard until later!"
Mr. Jonah heaved a sigh of relief, for at first I guess he thought he'dhave to go back to the Whale without having the chance of Capt. Noahcooling off.
Marjorie stood close to the rail, straining her eyes for a glimpse of thepolar bears.
The three Noah boys now came on deck, and Ham handed the spyglass to hisfather.
"I see them! I see them!" cried Capt. Noah. "One of them is waving aflag!"
"Let me look," said Marjorie, who was dreadfully worried about them.
Yes, there they were. On the top of the berg she could dimly see twofigures and a white object waving back and forth. The sea was gettingrough and the Ark rolled about in a most uncomfortable manner.
The Weathercock clung tightly to his post, however, and flapped his wingsnow and then.
"Look out!" he cautioned as the Ark neared the berg. "Be careful or you'llstave a hole in the Ark!"
"Hurry up!" shouted the polar bears. "We're nearly starved. We want ourbreakfast."
"Want your breakfast!" muttered Capt. Noah under his breath. "You'll bewanting something more than breakfast if we don't find a way to get youaboard!"
"Let them swim!" suggested Ham.
"Run up close and let them jump!" advised Shem.
"Let them fly!" chuckled Japheth, unsympathetically, who was somewhattired of feeding the animals and felt that two less would not be such anawful thing after all.
"Nothing of the sort," cried Capt. Noah. "I am responsible for the safetyof every passenger. I will take no such chances."
"What are we going to do, then?" asked Mr. Jonah, looking over the side ofthe Ark to make sure that it was not getting too close to the dangerousberg, which jutted out in ragged points beneath the water.
"Launch the life-boat!" commanded Capt. Noah. "Who will volunteer?"
"I will!" cried Ham, and in less time than I can take to tell it, Ham andhis trained monkeys lowered the boat and jumped in.
"Shove off!" commanded Cockswain Ham, and with a strong pull and a loud"Yo-ho!" the little boat shot away.
Ham held firmly to the tiller and kept the bow pointed toward the bigrollers, while the monkeys handled the oars.
"Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore," sang the Weathercock.
The bears, who had slid down the iceberg close to the water's edge, stoodanxiously waiting.
"Careful, now!" cried Ham. "Pull on your starboard oar!"
The boat grazed the iceberg. "Jump!" shouted Ham. "Quick!"
And then one of the bears gave a spring and landed in the boat. His mate,however, slipped, and a big wave at that moment whirled the boat away fromthe ice, and with a big splash he landed in the water.
"Throw him a life-preserver!" shouted Capt. Noah.
"Throw him a life line!" yelled Shem.
"Throw him the anchor!" growled Japheth, who never had liked the PolarBears, I guess.
But Cockswain Ham was not the least bit rattled. He steered the boattoward the frightened bear and told him to catch hold.
"Now pull for all you're worth!" shouted Ham to the monkeys, "and we'lltow Brother Bear."
But, oh, dear me! The great waves kept washing over the little boat, andthe two monkeys had a hard time rowing with that great heavy bear draggingon the stern.
"They'll be swamped!" screamed Mrs. Noah, as a tremendous great wavedashed over the little life-boat.
"Bail, bail, you lubber!" shouted Ham. "We'll all be in Davy Jones'slocker if you don't!"
Well, pretty soon they came alongside the Ark, and Capt. Noah let down arope ladder, up which the two bears managed to scramble after a hardstruggle.
And after that Cockswain Ham and his gallant crew came aboard, and thelife-boat was hoisted up on deck.
Motherly Mrs. Noah at once put the two bears to bed after a hot mustardbath and a drink of Jamaica ginger.
"Well, this beats the old days all holler!" exclaimed Capt. Noah. "Wenever had such accidents on my first voyage. It just rained and rained forforty days and forty nights."
"That's the truth, my dear," agreed Mrs. Noah. "I remember it very well.Ham was just a baby, and the other two boys were little fellows. It washard work finding something new for them to do each day. Rainy days onboard ship--well, I never want to go through with it again."
"I should think your boys would think you're just lovely," said littleMarjorie.
"Well, I guess we do," said Ham, kissing his mother. "You know we do,mother dear."
"Of course I do," she replied, giving him a hug.
"Go and kiss your mother," said Capt. Noah to Shem and Japheth, "or shewon't give you any breakfast."
And then they both ran over to her and kissed her, glad of an excuse toshow their real feelings.
"Now, come and get something nice and hot for breakfast," said Mrs. Noah,"for if we don't eat breakfast pretty soon, we'll have to call it lunch."
And in the next chapter you shall hear of a dreadful collision, but don'tworry, for I shan't let anything happen to little Marjorie and the kindNoah family.