Frances Margaret Fox

“ You may be a lion-tamer if you want to, but you and your old lion will have to have a show [Pg 37] of your own. I won't stand it any longer, and you can't have my cat for a polar bear, either."
"Why, Bet," was the remonstrance, "what makes you be so cross? I thought you liked to play circus. Do you want to be the lion-tamer this time, Bet? I'll let you take my big dog; do you want to, Betty?"
"No, Billy, I don't want to be anything that's in a circus, so there! I'll play Grace Darling, though; you and Gerald and Hero may be the shipwrecked sailors, and I'll be Grace Darling." ”

“ Every ship, you know, should carry a set of these signal-flags, so let's play we're all boats. I'll be a yacht, I guess, because yachts are beautiful."
"I'm a steam-tug—choo—choo—choo!—and my name's the tug Billy. Choo—choo choo—"
"Good, Bill!" exclaimed Gerald. "You're built just right for a tug. I guess I'll be the schooner Gerald of the White Star Line. Lumber's my cargo."
"Dear me, I can't be just a yacht, sailing around for the fun of it," remarked Betty. "I must be part of the merchant marine myself." ”

“ Antoine laughed long and loud before saying: "Beely, you think your aunt like one bear story?"
"Why, yes, but what are you laughing at, Antoine?"
[Pg 85]
"Oh, I'm think I'm tell one, two, three, four bear story until your aunt go home, and ole Antoine she laugh."
"How are you going to begin, Aunt Florence?" asked Betty, as Antoine and Billy came toward them hand in hand. "They say he won't promise not to drink; he just will spend every cent he can get when he wants to. Now what are you going to say?" ”

“ Slowly did the steam-tug venture into deep water; too slowly to suit Antoine, whose fear of the dog was genuine. Gerald had explained that Hero never harmed any one Billy befriended, merely hinting at dark possibilities that might befall the unwary. He also laughingly told Antoine that Hero was not a dog, but a dangerous reef. In a short time the little Frenchman had reason to believe that the reef was volcanic in its nature. ”

“ MINNAVAVANA'S BRAVES
The north wind is no respecter of persons. He wasn't invited to Betty's lawn party, but he came at dawn and stayed until dark the day she chose to entertain her dearest friends. Billy was glad of it. He said that girls' parties were silly, anyway, and he hoped the whole flock would have to stay in the house. He declared that Betty needn't expect to see him at the party: he would rather hide in the cellar all day than be the only boy among so many girls. Aunt Florence smiled, and said she guessed they could get along without him if he felt that way. ”

“ Aunt Florence became white as the daisies, as she stared at Betty, while terror seized Billy.
"It's the sunbonnet girls," gasped Betty; "what do you s'pose is the matter? What is the matter?" she demanded of the flying maidens.
"Indians, Indians, run quick, run, run! I tell you they're after us!"
One glance toward the lake was enough for Betty. She saw canoes being drawn up on the beach, and Indians coming straight toward them. The child was never more frightened [Pg 21] in her life. Forgetting Billy, she and Aunt Florence fairly flew over the rough ground. Billy, poor fellow! ”

“ Let's play—"
"But I want to play get the animals out of the ark," insisted Billy.
"And I say," Betty argued, "that you don't know whether you like to play Grace Darling or not until you try it. Who's going to be captain of the shipwrecked boat, you, Billy, or Gerald? Now, this rug is the Northumberland coast."
"No, sir," shouted Billy, "it's Mt. Ararat."
"Why, children, what's going on?" asked Aunt Florence, who was passing the doorway.
"We all want to play different things," explained Betty.
"Why don't you make signal-flags, like the ones on the chart?" suggested Aunt Florence. ”

“ He wondered if Betty's orange was anywhere near as good. Later in the evening Gerald went out on the beach with his father to see if there were any boats in sight to be reported. While he was gone, Betty prepared to eat her orange.
"Come on, Billy," she suggested, "get your rocker, and we'll eat our oranges while mamma undresses the baby. I'm glad it is a chilly night, so we had to have a fire in the grate."
A wistful expression crept into Billy's face. "I gave my orange to Antoine to take to 'Phonse," was his reply in sorrowful tones. ”

“ I'm call him Beely after my little friend."
"Oh, let's show him to Aunt Florence," suggested Billy, but Aunt Florence, for some reason, insisted upon going home.
"No use for me to try to say anything to him," she remarked to Betty, as they walked along the bay shore. "I'll give up. I should think that man would be ashamed when he remembers that little suit I gave 'Phonse."
"But that's the queer thing about him, auntie," Betty explained; "he never remembers anything he wants to forget. I like him, though." ”

“ Fish shanty ain't big like the town hall?"
"Well, I should say not," admitted Billy. "Why, isn't it nice, Antoine? You can sit right still on your box and reach all the walls, can't you? Oh, that's the way you do it? When you see a fish coming, you just keep watching him, and then you reach over and turn the crank and wind up the line, and then the pretend fish comes up higher and higher. But then, I don't see how you spear the real fish."
"Well, Betty and Beely, I will show you. You see the decoy fish she come quiet through the water when we bring it up with a windlass. ”

“ I'd say some things he'd remember."
"Antoine used to come often," said Betty. "We always tease him to tell stories. Everybody likes him; you'll see him sometime, auntie, and then you'll like him, too."
"I shall tell him what I think of him," declared Aunt Florence; but a week later, when Antoine came, she didn't say a word.
It was a rainy afternoon, and when Billy announced that the game must be circus as usual, and that the parade should be first on the programme, Betty objected.
"Billy Grannis," she exclaimed, "you're a nuisance. ”

“ One steam-barge, the Wallula, was long unaccounted for. She was the last of the season, as Billy knew. He and Betty watched almost as anxiously as their father for the belated boat. One afternoon there came a blinding snow-storm, and for the first time Billy agreed with Betty in pitying the poor sailors, especially those on the Wallula.
"Just think of being out in such a storm, with the light-ships all gone and the buoys all [Pg 107] taken away!" said the little girl. "I don't see how a boat could help going on the shoals. Don't you ever be a sailor, Billy, will you?" ”

“ Billy gave a shout. "Oh, look, Betty! look, Gerald! There's Antoine at the gate, and he's afraid of Hero. He doesn't dare pass him."
"He's calling you, Billy; go get your dog." Gerald laughed as he spoke.
"'Both in safety and in doubt, always keep a good lookout,'" mocked Billy. "He's scared to death. Look at him back up when [Pg 49] Hero walks toward him. 'Should there not be room to turn, stop your ship and go astern.' If Antoine was a boat, he could play Hero was an iceberg. Hey, Bet?"
At last Antoine saw the children.
"If we don't stop laughing," warned Betty, "he'll go away. ”

“ I don't want to go with Aunt Florence. I want to play with the boys. What made Betty go and tell her all about old fort relics, I'd like to know."
"Hush, hush, Billy! Aunt Florence may hear you."
"Well, but, mamma, I don't want to go to the old fort and dig beads all the afternoon. It's too warm. I'm roasting."
Billy's mother laughed. One look at the child's face was enough to make anybody laugh. He was so cross. "Maybe auntie won't care to stay long, Billy. Strangers [Pg 3] who are not accustomed to our woods often feel pretty lonesome at the old fort." ”

“ Let's walk faster. I don't believe you'll want to stay long, auntie, after you get to the fort."
"I agree with you, Betty, this is a lonesome walk. I almost wish we'd stayed at home."
"Let's turn around and go back," suggested Billy.
"Oh, I must find some beads," Aunt Florence insisted. "Do you ever see Indians around here nowadays?"
"Oh, just tame ones," Billy was honest enough to say.
"You must be brave children," the young [Pg 10] lady remarked, as she followed Betty through the gloomy forest.
"We're used to it," Betty sung over her shoulder, and Billy knew she was laughing. ”

“ Of course, Aunt Florence will tell him all about Antoine and Samone, and how she couldn't make him stop drinking, because she didn't know how to begin talking to him about it. Now, everybody says that if Antoine would make up his mind to be a different kind of a man, he could, and everybody likes him, even now, so I'm just going to ask Uncle John to go down to his house and make him stop. That's a fine plan. Folks always listen to Uncle John because he's so good-looking. ”

“ I know a little chap," and Billy had to give a hard kick at somebody who pinched his toes, "I know one little chap that hitch up one dog to her sled and take a ride on all kinds of weather. Well, well, what's the matter with Beely? She jump around like something bite him."
"Go on, Antoine, go on, tell us about the [Pg 60] dogs," teased Billy. "Gerald's always acting horrid."
"Well," resumed the Frenchman, "a traineau was pulled by six dog; all had harness on, and hitch one in front the other on one long string. The traineau she's all pile full of mailbag, and one man go along to drive the dog. ”

“ Those were the days when Billy hated bedtime with all his might. It always came in the middle of some tale of adventure, often at the point where Uncle John almost shot a bear.
Evening after evening, Mr. Larzalere, a neighbour, called to see Uncle John, and many a tale of the woods he told that made Gerald [Pg 101] stare. Billy often wondered why such great hunters as Mr. Larzalere and his Uncle John could go forth each day, knowing exactly where to find deer, and yet return without one.
"Should think you'd begin to get discouraged," he said at last. ”

“ Ignace two hours ago," he said to Billy's mother. "Men have already gone to find him, but it is useless."
Billy's father went away, and in that dreadful time of waiting the three children listened to the Frenchwoman's despairing talk. Just that morning her husband had told where his money came from. The old aunt in Canada was dead, and had left her farm and all she owned to Antoine. They had made such happy plans. The little Samone should be a lady, and the boys would no longer be ragged and half-starved. ”

“ Bernard Shoals, and but for the timely assistance of the steamship City of Elizabeth, the schooner Gerald of the White Star Line must have been lost with all on board. To be sure, Gerald emptied his pockets upon the floor, insisting that everything that fell, from his jack-knife to marbles, were frantic sailors, who either perished in the sea or were devoured by sharks.
In the meantime, the St. Bernard Shoals made trouble for the steam-tug Billy. "Can't even blow my whistle," puffed Billy. "Hero, let me get up. Don't keep tumbling me over and over. Don't you know I'm a boat? Go 'way, Hero. ”

“ I ain't look back to see. I have all I can do to hang on my cow. It ain't easy riding, I tole you that."
"Oh, Antoine," remonstrated Billy, "I don't call that a bear story. I call it a cow story. Now, please, Antoine, tell me a good one. Please don't laugh; tell me a good, wild [Pg 93] bear story, one of your narrow 'scapes. Tell me about the time you caught the little bear last summer. I like that story."
"Well, Beely, I ain't like to tell you that story pretty good, for every time I'm think on it I'm scare out of my wit yet."
"But, Antoine, the bears can't hurt you now; they are all dead." ”

“ The steam-tug Billy was on the reef, and but for the parting of the hawser the French boat must have followed.
"Don't you try to run, Antoine," called Gerald; "you can't tell what Hero might do. You better stand right still till Billy gets on his feet again." Then he and Betty laughed. Terror was pictured on Antoine's face as the [Pg 52] dog barked and pranced around, thoroughly enjoying the game.
Billy struggled to his feet. "Toot—toot—make fast," he commanded, and Betty's hair-ribbons were once more tied together, how loosely only Billy knew. ”

“ You do not come to make war; you come in peace to trade with us. We shall regard you, therefore, as a brother, and you may sleep tranquilly, without [Pg 16] fear of the Chippewas. As a token of friendship, we present you this pipe to smoke.'"
Whereupon, Betty, making a serious bow, offered her little shovel to Aunt Florence. For the moment, she actually believed herself Minnavavana, the Indian chief, though Billy's face quickly brought her back to the present. ”

“ We won't scare her unless we have to, though a good scare never hurts anybody. You get the beads while I get the shovels. Hurry now, we'll have some fun."
Mrs. Grannis was much relieved when the children returned with pleasant faces. Aunt Florence, too, was pleased.
"I truly wouldn't want you to go a step unless you were perfectly willing," she said, as they were leaving the house.
[Pg 7]
"Well, auntie, we're always willing to go anywhere, Billy and I, if we think we can have some fun, and we're going to have a jolly time this afternoon, aren't we, Billy?" ”