Gordon Stables

“ Was Peggy becoming a dreamer of dreams as she lay by the seashore, the blood-hound{122} by her side ever watchful, the chameleon on her wrist or shoulder? I could not say for certain, but I know she sometimes wondered what her future life might be. There were people who lived in great mansions like that of the snowy-haired lady she had met that day in the park, and who, simply because they have money, must be happy, because they can go where they like, and do what they like—theirs surely must be life in a sort of fairyland—the fairyland of wealth and greatness! ”

“ And look at her at the same time, Gourmie! Look at the flowers in her hair! But what flower in all the forest could be more sweet than she? Fairer is Peggy than the anemone, that waves gently by the treefoot when spring zephyrs are blowing, or floats coyly on the broad bosoms of yonder pond. Prettier is Peggy than dog-rose on the hawthorn hedge asleep; more modest than mountain daisy—the wee, crimson-tipped flower that met the poet in that evil hour ”

“ He had to do everything the pretty little minx told him, and take her and her companions out in the royal canoe whenever she wanted a picnic or an airing. The king would sit patiently on his daïs sometimes, as calm and serene as a summer sunset or a stucco cat, while she dressed him from top to toe in flowers and leaves and strings of beads, and finally crowned him with her oldest tartan Tam o’ Shanter. He looked so droll in this get-up that Peggy had to clap her hands and laugh and run round and round about him, to view him from every quarter. ”

“ When a whole fortnight passed away and absolutely nothing occurred, except one tropical storm, which served to break the monotony, all agreed that the life was becoming unbearable. The giant became morose, Willie looked as sad as if he had been heat-struck, and would sit forward in the fo’c’sle for two hours at a time silently gazing into the water. Even Peggy lost heart and seldom touched her mandoline. And Johnnie, who was evidently forcing himself to keep up his spirits, tried in vain to rouse Peggy from her lethargy. ”

“ There were hills here of rare beauty, green wooded, almost to their summits, between which glimpses could be caught on every side of a sea more blue and lovely than any other in all this wide world—a sea in which many a little island was afloat apparently ’twixt ocean and sky, islands with white and silvery sands along the beach, but bedecked with many a waving tree-fern and feathery palm, among which fairies and elves must play in the starlight if any such there be in this world of ours. ”

“ He sometimes looked fierce enough to frighten a motor car. “Never mind,” Peggy could have told you, “Gourmie is the kindest big lump of a giant ever anybody knew.” He was nearly always smiling. His smile was an expansive one. In fun Willie the dwarf used to jump on Gourmie’s knee sometimes with a tape to measure it. When tired of Willie’s antics the giant would lift him off his knee, as one lifts a troublesome kitten, and place him gently on the ground. But, big as he was, this giant would have stepped aside rather than crush the life out of a beetle. ”

“ The dear old life by the dear old sea had commenced again, and Peggy and Johnnie were very happy; so, too, was white-faced wee Willie, while as for the giant—well, nothing ever put him out.
Father Fitzroy was jolly enough also, because he was drawing good houses with his new play, and selling many flutes. What more could heart of wanderers wish? Ah! well, nobody ever is altogether content in this world, and there were times when Fitzroy thought his life had been almost thrown away, and that he might be better off than he now found himself—lessee of the “Lyceum,” for instance. ”

“ When the sun rose about six next day, like{131} a big, blood orange shimmering red through the horizon’s haze, the good barque Vulture lay like a log upon the water, and reeled like a drunken man. The waves were high, but there was not a breath of wind. Only those smooth, oily-looking billows.
The children had to be told of the danger now, for at any time the Vulture might take her final plunge. But they bore up most bravely.
The captain had been set free again, and he, with Fitzroy himself and the giant, set about cutting away every stick. Few sailors could wield axe or adze as Gourmand did. ”

“ It is just at this part of the witch’s hideous story that a louder clap of thunder than any which had yet been heard rolled forth, a gleam of red light is noticed at the back of the stage, with a great cloud of smoke which presently cleared away to reveal the head and chest of the giant himself, flaming eyes, and teeth as large as tenpenny nails. ”

“ He had already signed the agreement with the Macgilvray Company to bring out Peggy on the Australian stage. In her acting and singing she had made such progress this winter, that she was certain to cause a sensation in that new land of sunshine.
It was spring again once more; it is a sorrowful thing for anyone who loves nature, to sail away from his native land when the birds begin to build and sing, and wild-flowers spring wanton, to be loved and admired.
But ever since he had met Macgilvray’s agent, Fitzroy had been a different man. ”

“ Fitzroy was himself a gentleman at heart, although poverty had led him a little way apart from the path of rectitude. I don’t imagine for a single moment that because Fitzroy was one of a troupe of Wandering Minstrels, and was sometimes classed with the gipsies, that he ever robbed a hen-roost, or cleared a clothes-line, or even requisitioned turnips or potatoes from farmers’ fields. But he had for the sake of making money been something of a betting man, and the way that poor little Peggy had come into his possession was not so creditable to his sense of honour as it might have been. ”

“ To fight for any length of time was impossible. To fight at all was but to invite{137} death in its ugliest form. If fighting, therefore, must take place, it must be a last resource, and to sell their lives as dearly as they could. It was for Peggy that all feared most, and dreadful though the resolve was, Fitzroy determined that she should not fall alive into the hands of those fearful blacks, to be tortured to death, and probably devoured afterwards. Though he said nothing of this to Johnnie, he spoke his mind quietly to the skipper of the Vulture, as well as to Giant Gourmand. ”

“ It was a swamp and a labyrinth combined, and if Tootaker had wished to be unfaithful, he had a good chance now, even in spite of Stransom’s revolvers. But the white man had won his affection; and, above all, the wondrous beauty of the child Peggy had so stolen around his savage heart, that he had lost all desire to live longer among his own people. ”

“ The seaweeds themselves were most beautiful to behold, specially the tiny, fern-like ones, that floated pink and sienna in the clear pools. Sometimes, when Peggy put her foot on one of the bladders which float the very large algæ, it gave a crack like a small pistol, and quite startled her.
They spent quite an hour at the seaside; but Peggy couldn’t find a mermaid, though she felt sure there were little fairy ones, and that they dwelt deep down in just such pools as these, and didn’t wear much clothes, except bits of fringy seaweed around their waists to hide their fishy tails. ”

“ AH, but a gipsy’s life is not all joys by any manner of means, although to those so young as Peggy and Johnnie, it is quite the life idyllic.
Fitzroy, the captain of the show, had often enough, like most of us who are not born with silver spoons in our mouths, to scratch the elbow of troublesome care. He had to make his caravan tours pay, and the public is a most insatiable monster. ”

“ She felt as fresh now as the clear-skinned, speckled trout in the streamlet, and as happy as the rose-linnet that sang on a golden furze bush near her. She must not wipe the dew off, though. Oh, no, that would have broken the spell and spoiled the charm. In the sun she stood, therefore, and danced and sang till dry.
Then a spirit of revelry came over her. It would still be a long time till six o’clock. She would have time to rehearse for her night’s performance—a dance and a song.{13} Happy thought! She would introduce an innovation. ”

“ I have strong reason to believe that the demon in this scene is none other than the dear little dwarf, Willie Randolph.
But the witch reads the girl’s fortune well enough, apparently. Leely would be captured by a fearful giant who dwelt far off in a mountain recess, and borne away to his castle. This monster lived upon the flesh of human beings, and that alone. The flesh of men and women was his ordinary or daily food, but his special treat was that of a maiden young and fair, whom he first tortured to make her tender, and afterwards slew. ”

“ The souls of all savages are, and if the guileless prattle of child Peggy did not appeal to it and touch a chord, the sterner, though more learned logic of no missionary may hope to succeed.
The Wandering Minstrels gave one more performance the night before they left, and every one of Fitzroy’s troupe excelled himself and broke all former record.
Johnnie never felt in better form; Willie had never been so funny before; Peggy never sang nor played more sweetly; the giant’s great brass bassoon made echoes ring from tree to tree ”

“ Well, the curtain drops at last on the happy meeting of Leely and Adolphus, who rush into each other’s arms; while the witch, with her crutch held over their heads, seems to be blessing both, though what the precise value of a witch’s blessing is I have yet to learn.
The heroes are called before the curtain. The giant is hissed, and smiles a ten-inch smile. The hound is cheered, and so is even{49} with the demon, but when Adolphus leads the charming Leely out, the shouting is deafening, and the pretty actress is almost smothered with garlands and bouquets of forest flowers. ”

“ Back she ran now into the forest and commenced gathering an armful of the tenderest and prettiest fern-fronds and wild crimson silené flowers.
Peggy, like the thoughtful and handy little maid she was, never went anywhere without her ditty-bag. No girl who leads a wandering life should. ”

“ SO complete was the rout of the blackbirders, and so terrible a tale would the survivors have to tell when they returned to Australian waters, that many a long year, no doubt, would elapse before that blood-stained though beautiful island would be visited again.
I fear that a great carnival commenced on this very night, and that it lasted for days. Our people were glad to be out of it, and they had much to do. But as many of the bodies as could be recovered were taken out, by Stransom’s orders, and buried at sea. The cannibals might do what they pleased with their own dead. ”

“ It is to be the most spacious and the handsomest travelling car on the road, saloon-cabin and after-cabin. But Peggy’s mother will go also, and old Molly and Ralph as well.
Peggy has told me that she does not mean to do things by halves, and that not only shall Gourmie be one of the crew, but little Willie the violinist, and Fitzroy himself.
Will Johnnie be there? Was that what you asked? What a question, to be sure!{190} If you asked Peggy herself, she would look at you in sweet surprise and say, “Why, of course. Caravan life would not be caravan life, nor a camp a camp, without Johnnie!” ”

“ We are charmed with the flower’s performance, and have come to offer her an engagement. The Wandering Minstrels is not a good enough show for your talent. No, you must try to get away for one little minute. We offer you a big, big salary. We will take you to France, and place you before a large and admiring audience in a splendid concert-room. You will have dresses more beautiful than you can now even dream of, besides gold and jewels, and you will become a rich lady, before whom the gayest knights in fair France will bow. It is a splendid offer for one so young as you. ”

“ THE curtain rises next on the interior of the witch’s hut in the darkest woodland depths. The witch (who is none other than old Molly herself, with a few more wrinkles, put in with kohl, and bushy eyebrows, beneath which fierce, cruel eyes glare like those of the basilisk. N.B.—I have never seen a basilisk, but I am told its eyes do shine fearfully and ferociously!) the witch has snakes around her arms that raise their heads now and then to hiss vengefully. ”

“ Kammie was a good specimen of that strange, weird-looking, and old-world lizard called the chameleon, who stalks flies and little grubs when you place him on the grass in the sunshine, or even in your bedroom; who crawls about with marvellous slowness and deliberation, just one leg at a time; who changes colour to match his surroundings; who has two large, circular eyelids, a bright bead of an eye in the very centre of each, and possesses the power of looking in two different directions at one and the same time. ”