TIBBS AND KIDDIWEE TO THE RESCUE.
“I do wish you’d go away, or--or--move--or do something!” sobbed
Coppertop. “You make me feel terrifikly nervous, standing there and
saying nothing; just staring and staring, and leaning on that horrid,
sharp sword!”
These words were addressed to a strange-looking person, who had been
standing beside the Japanese Lantern for some time, silent, motionless,
and mysterious.
He was dressed in the armour of a Samurai of old Japan, and leant upon
a long and very sharp two-handed sword. His face was so stern and still
that Coppertop could not decide if it really were his face or only a
mask. And it made her feel most uncomfortable and nervous.
She had spoken to him several times, but he took not a bit of notice,
which was extremely impolite, to say the least.
“Whatever shall I do with the horrid old thing?” she cried, and she
wept faster than before.
Splash, splash, fell the big crystal tears, on to the steps of the
ancient stone Lantern.
“Don’t splash so, up there!” cried a small voice, which sounded so very
familiar that Coppertop ceased weeping, and, drying her little grey
eyes, looked down.
And there, to her intense delight, she beheld Miss Smiler.
“Oh, you dear, duckie, little old person!” she cried. “However did you
get here?”
“Oh, I just trotted along on my four legs,” replied the Camel, smiling
up at her, “until I came to the sea, and then--
Myself and a Nautilus
Put to sea
In a beautiful ship
Of purple shell.
And the Nautilus smiled
In the highest glee,
But I felt far from well.
For a storm came on--
As storms will do--
And rocked our shell-ship
Fro and to,
Fro and to,
And to and fro,
The way that shell-ships
Rock, you know.
And I cried, ‘Though I’m fond of the ocean, too,
With its billowy waves, so green and blue,
I like it much better quite still, don’t you?’
But the Nautilus didn’t agree.
She said, ‘When it’s still
As still can be,
And there isn’t a breeze
To fill my sail,
Great fishes come up
And stare at me,
Till I feel my cheeks
Grow pale.’
‘Don’t talk about “pale,”’ I cried. ‘Oh, please!
I’m getting so shaky about my knees;
Such rickety-rockety boats as these
Should never put out to sea.’
For the storm grew worse--
As storms will do--
And rocked our shell-ship
Fro and to,
Fro and to,
And to and fro,
The way that shell-ships
Rock, you know.
Then the Nautilus into
A rage she flew!
‘My beautiful ship
Of shell,’ cried she,
‘Is far too good
For a Cameloo!’
And she pushed me
Into the sea.
But I reached here just the same!” beamed Miss Smiler.
“Yes, but how?” asked Coppertop, who was so interested by this story
that she almost forgot the horrid Samurai.
“Before I answer any more questions,” interrupted Miss Smiler, in
a hushed voice, “I’d like to know who that piece of old china is,
standing there on guard, like a figure on a teapot?”
“Hush!” cried Coppertop. “Oh, I’ve been terrifikly worried about him.”
“I don’t wonder,” interrupted the Camel, whose manners were not too
good. “I should think he’s worried about himself, with such a face!”
“Oh, I don’t mind his face so much,” whispered back Coppertop; “he’s a
Samurai of Old Japan, and they all have faces like that!”
“Poor things!” exclaimed the Camel.
“If we were used to their faces, we should think them quite handsome,”
exclaimed the child. “I expect they think we’re ugly, too. It’s all a
matter of taste.”
“Taste!” cried Smiler. “We don’t have to taste them, do we? It’s
painful enough to look at them.”
“Do be quiet!” warned Coppertop. “If he hears you he’ll chop your head
off! That’s what he’s waiting to do with mine, I expect.”
“Don’t you let him take such a liberty,” cried Miss Smiler. “Once you
lose your head you don’t know where you are. And it’ll be extremely
hard to put it on again.”
“Oh, I’ve had such arguments with the horrid old thing! I’ve told him
all that. If only Tibbs and Kiddiwee were here to drive him away,” she
added, tearfully.
“They’re not so very far away,” replied Miss Smiler, peeping round the
edge of the Lantern. “In fact--HERE THEY ARE!” she exclaimed.
And, lo and behold, floating along over the river toward the Lantern,
came the beautiful soap bubble, with Tibbs and Kiddiwee inside.
“Oh, where? Where?” cried Coppertop, excitedly, for she could see
nothing from her side of the Lantern, and she dared not venture out
because of the Samurai, who looked most anxious to prove how sharp his
sword was.
“I can’t see without a head,” she added. “Otherwise I believe I’d risk
it.”
Just then the soap bubble was seen by the Samurai, who evidently
wondered where it had come from, and looked a trifle uneasy.
While he was looking, it suddenly exploded, and out shot Tibbs and
Kiddiwee. As soon as they were released from the bubble they grew
rapidly to their usual size.
Head or no head, Coppertop could resist it no longer, but flew down
from the old stone Lantern, and flung herself into their arms.
At this strange sight the Samurai showed little surprise, but he walked
sternly forward, and in the calmest manner, without even waiting to say
“May I?” or “By your leave!” he aimed a terrible blow at Coppertop’s
head with his cruel two-handed sword.
Fortunately, she moved her head, but the blade cut through both her
wings, and, with a cry of dismay, she saw them fall to the ground.
Instantly Tibbs and Kiddiwee threw themselves on the Samurai, flying
round him rapidly, to dazzle and confuse him.
They kicked and they punched him--for what else could they do? They
pulled his long, black hair. They scratched him. Anything to take his
attention, and to prevent him from again attacking Coppertop.
Miss Smiler joined in also, and did what she could, which wasn’t very
much, for she was smaller than ever now, being no larger than when she
hung on the chain round the neck of her little mistress.
Making a final effort, the Samurai tried, with one sweep of his
terrible sword, to cut through the bodies of the two boys. But his
foot slipped on a stone which Smiler had rolled under it, and he fell
crashing to the ground, the sword flying out of his hand.
In a flash, Tibbs seized the sword, and, swinging it above his head
with both hands, he rushed upon the fallen Samurai.
But, before he could strike, the armour of the Samurai was flung
asunder, and revealed the craven face, the snub nose, and the trembling
form of the wretched Clerk of the Weather!
“Mercy! Mercy!” he cried, grovelling on the ground at the feet of the
two boys. “Spare me, and I’ll worry you no more! You shall be free to
find your precious day unhindered.”
“Perhaps it _would_ be better not to kill him,” suggested Coppertop.
“You see, if we did, the weather would be simply too awful for words,
with no one to look after it.”
“All right,” agreed Tibbs, reluctantly. At the words the Clerk of
the Weather rose shakily to his feet, and, springing into the air,
disappeared behind a passing cloud.
“I don’t trust him a bit!” muttered Tibbs. “And I may never get another
chance to cut a real head off,” he said, regretfully.
“Oh, you two dears!” cried Coppertop, beside herself with joy, “you’re
both positively Victoria Cross heroes! I’m terrifikly proud of you. If
I wasn’t so upset about my poor old spoilt wings, I could almost cry
with happiness!”
“Funny things--girls?” remarked Tibbs, feeling awkward at being
regarded as a hero. “Let’s find another head. This sword’s too sharp to
waste. Come on, Kiddiwee,” and off he raced.
“_Boys_ are funny--I should think,” remarked Coppertop. “Fancy leaving
me like that, when we’ve only just found each other. Oh, I do wish I
had a baby to squeedge.”
At this moment she glanced down, and there she beheld Smiler; smiling,
too, with all her might.
“Oh, I do love you, I do!” cried the child, impulsively, and seizing
the surprised Camel in her hands, she kissed her fondly.
As this happened, Miss Smiler heaved a deep sigh, and became just a
little bronze camel once more.