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BABY JANE'S MISSION
R. PARNELL
* * * * *
The Larger Dumpy
Books for Children.
V. BABY JANE'S MISSION.
* * * * *
The Larger Dumpy Books
for Children
_Large Pott 8vo, Cloth gilt, 2/6 each_
I.
THE SIX INCH ADMIRAL
By GEORGE A. BEST
_With Fifty Illustrations_
II.
HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY DAYS
By E. FLORENCE MASON and
HAMISH HENDRY
_Illustrated in Colours_
III.
PILLOW STORIES
By S. L. HEWARD and
GERTRUDE M. BRADLEY
_Illustrated_
IV.
ABOUT FAIRIES AND OTHER FACTS
By MAUD STAWELL
_Illustrated_
V.
BABY JANE'S MISSION
By REGINALD PARNELL
_Illustrated by the Author_
VI.
THE ROSE AND THE RING
By W. M. THACKERAY
_Illustrated_
VII.
MERRY MR. PUNCH
By GERTRUDE M. BRADLEY and
HAMISH HENDRY
_Illustrated in Colours_
LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS
* * * * *
[Illustration: Up she went in hot pursuit of Baby Jane (p. 40).]
BABY JANE'S MISSION
by
REGINALD PARNELL
Illustrated by the Author
London
Grant Richards
1902
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
INTRODUCTION--ADDRESSED SOLELY TO GROWN-UPS 1
1. THE DANCING CLASS 4
2. NUTS IN MAY 20
3. SANTA CLAUS 34
4. OLD JANIES _v._ JUNIOR OAKDENE ATHLETIC 49
5. TWO NEW FRIENDS 63
6. THE GREAT CIRCUS 79
7. BABY JANE'S ARMY 95
8. IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP 111
9. THE RESCUE 121
10. THE FINISH 138
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Up she went in hot pursuit of Baby Jane _Frontispiece_
The Bear looked up at the sky and began whistling 6
Up popped a little fluffy head 8
The Lion flung himself ... at his enemy 11
'Get off my head,' said the Lion 12
Looking very crushed and humble 13
With an amiable-looking lady Crocodile on his arm 14
'I have got my legs so mixed' 16
The Washington Post 18
Down he dropped plump on the Lion's head 24
Baby Jane and the Piccaninny 25
She had anchored the end of her tail to a stout
young palm tree 27
They came flying in pursuit 30
Up she went in hot pursuit of Baby Jane 40
The Rabbit racing behind, holding it by a string 44
Miss Crocodile's slender and flexible figure was
shown to great advantage 45
Puffed out his cheeks 49
Whistling 'Lochaber No More' 64
She had to slap them herself 68
Sammy chucked it under the chin, as it were 69
Three draggled little creatures crawled out 72
It was a picturesque sight 74
Still the eagle rose 77
A string of 'sandwich-men' 79
Mary Carmichael had stopped short under the hoop 84
Mary descended in the lap of a cross old spinster
bear 89
A little mocking measure 102
He fluttered a yard in the air 104
The Lion came thundering down the line 106
Two little smiling faces were regarding him 107
Straight for the enemy's country 110
Baby Jane danced round him with delight 112
She was almost too excited to stand still 113
Baby Jane slaps him cruelly at times 119
Kicked savagely at all who tried to seize her 122
She was hurried after the others 123
Patsey's artillery ... 131
... had come into action 132
They struck the Black Mountain army from behind 134
They met a baby leopard in their course 135
Mary and the stork 136
'May--I--have--the--pleasure?' 141
She tripped on to her chin 144
'Why, it's Markham!' 146
INTRODUCTION
ADDRESSED SOLELY TO GROWN-UPS
Baby Jane is eight years old. She has grave grey eyes and straight,
heavy, dull gold hair. She is very reserved, but those who have the
honour of her friendship know her for a very fine lady with a tender
heart and a loyal conscience. Because her conscience is sometimes
obvious, and because she looks at you as if she were thinking of you
rather gravely, some mean grown-up has said she was a prig. Perhaps she
is--I have always honoured a prig.
She cannot see clever jokes--mine for instance--but laughs beautifully,
so that all who hear laugh too, when perhaps Pat, the puppy, pretends to
eat his big chum, Radical, the cat.
She is a friend of mine, and sometimes invites me to tea with her. On
one such occasion, for lack of other talk, I told her of some of my
adventures in Patagonia (where I have never been). She was deeply
interested, but at some more than usually strange incident she grew red,
and with much hesitation said, 'I'm sorry--it's rude to
interrupt--but----'
She said nothing more, but I understood that she did not believe me. Now
I did not answer in words, and expressed myself only in a deep and
subtle look; but, after a long and serious gaze, a light shone in her
intelligent eyes and she gave one of her lovely little laughs.
'We understand one another?' I asked.
She nodded smiling, pleased with herself and me for understanding one
another so cleverly.
Soon afterwards she invited me to tea again, and greeted me eagerly over
the bannisters when I arrived in her dominions, but she said nothing
except in the way of courteous hospitality until tea was well begun.
Then with a very rosy face she said:
'Shall I tell you some of my adventures this time?' I was charmed with
the idea, and privately proud, for it proved what real friends we were
that she should so confide in me.
What follows is my free version of her account, which I can only hope is
not quite spoiled in the re-telling.
CHAPTER I
THE DANCING CLASS
Ever since she had been a baby--a good long while, for she was more than
eight years old--it had always troubled the heart of Baby Jane to hear,
and later on to read, how rough and rude and wretched the wild beasts
and niggers of the African desert were.
The black children _always_ came down to breakfast without their
pinafores on, and ate with their fingers, and never washed--though,
perhaps, that did not matter, as they had to be black anyhow--and were
altogether naughty and, therefore, very miserable.
And the wild beasts did nothing but kill and eat until the sand was
strewn with poor white bones that had once belonged to little bounding
gazelles, and missionaries, and gentle, spotted giraffes, and monkeys.
At night the big ones had no cosy stables, and the little ones no
basket with a rug in it; so they wandered about in the cold woods and
roared and went on eating things.
And all this unhappiness was because there was no one to teach them and
look after them. Poor creatures! If only they knew of all the fun there
was to be had--dancing and games and the rest--they would no longer
spend their time so miserably.
And this was why Baby Jane came to Africa.
Stories of mere travels are often very dull, so I will not bother you
with the long account of how she got there.
Now, dancing was the amusement that Baby Jane thought pleasantest; so
upon the stem of a shady palm beside a gurgling stream that ran through
the middle of the wide, white desert, she stuck up a notice:
_Dancing Lessons Given.
Nobody need Pay Anything._
And then sat down to wait for pupils.
By and bye a big brown Bear, holding a green-lined umbrella over him and
smoking a great drooping German pipe, came strolling along. He saw the
notice board and stared at it a long time as if he were reading, then
he turned towards Baby Jane and stood there smiling in a friendly, but
rather silly way.
[Illustration: The Bear looked up at the sky and began whistling.]
She thought he was considering how he should ask about the dancing
lessons, but he only said, with an air of joyful pride--
'What do you think of my pipe and my umbrella?'
'Where did you get them?' asked Baby Jane, fixing her round grey eyes
severely upon him.
The Bear looked up at the sky and began whistling, pretending not to
hear, but his ears grew very red.
'Where did you get them?' asked Baby Jane again.
Then the Bear gave up his pretence of deafness and blurted out his
excuses.
'Well, he _would_ talk German, and you cannot believe how fat he was!'
'But even then you should not have eaten him,' said Baby Jane, guessing
the part of the story that he had left untold.
The Bear looked very crestfallen, and tender-hearted Baby Jane felt so
sorry to have had to spoil his pleasure, that she changed the subject
altogether.
'Shall I teach you how to dance?' she said sweetly. 'It's great fun.'
The Bear was quite delighted with the idea, and wanted to begin at once,
but Baby Jane said she would collect a little class before she began.
'Come along!' said the Bear excitedly; 'I know some more. Jump on my
back!'
And off he set. Every now and then he would give a funny little clumsy
hop and ask her, 'Is that how you dance?' as if he were thinking of the
coming pleasure all the time.
During one of these quaint little capers he stumbled heavily.
'Drat that Rabbit!' he said. 'He's always digging his nasty holes all
over the place.'
[Illustration: Up popped a little fluffy head.]
From another hole a yard or two away, up popped a little fluffy head,
and a squeaky voice said--
'Drat that Bear! He's always dropping his clumsy paws down my area.'
By a swift dart, the Bear knocked the Rabbit out of his hole and fixed
him on the sand under his great paw.
'Looks as if I was going to be eaten,' said the Rabbit, trying to speak
cheerfully, though his pretty black eyes were very moist. 'It's rather a
bad day for being eaten--so sunny and fresh, and all the young shoots
are just sprouting now, and I was just going out with Fluffie'; and he
buried his little nose in the sand.
'If you did happen to want to let me go this once,' he said, in a
muffled, jerky voice, 'I wouldn't be saucy any more. But it doesn't
matter.'
'Eaten?' cried Baby Jane, choking with tears; and she slid over the
Bear's shoulder into a heap upon the ground beside the imprisoned
Rabbit, and struggled to force her little slim fingers between it and
the great paw, and she succeeded. Perhaps the Bear was ashamed, and
allowed it.
Then she hugged the rescued one close in her arms, with his fluffy head
between her little motherly shoulder and neck, and, sobbing, rocked to
and fro, making his drab fur quite draggled with her tear-drops.
'And he shall learn to dance--so he shall, the dear,' said Baby Jane
when her sobs had died away into an occasional sniff, and her mind had
turned to more cheerful ideas.
'Such a fuss about a Rabbit,' said the Bear under his breath. 'Why, I
eat rabbits spread on my bread-and-butter like shrimps.'
Then, in a louder voice, he said sulkily--'Here comes the Lion: he looks
as if he wanted to learn to dance.'
As a matter of fact, the Lion looked very cross.
'Mornin'!' said the Bear genially as he approached. 'We were just coming
to teach you which hand to use when you say, "Howdy-doo," and how to
play "Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush," and how to dance "Sir Roger
de Coverley."'
The Lion could not speak for rage, but sharpened his claws once or twice
on the sand and then charged.
It was a terrible struggle. The great beasts clutched one another round
the waist and wrestled furiously. The Lion made frantic attempts to
twist his leg between the Bear's two and so overthrow him, but the Bear
was as firm as a rock.
Then the Lion let go, and, retreating for about thirty yards, flung
himself from that distance at his enemy.
If he had been struck, the Bear must have been knocked headlong; but he
stooped, and the Lion passed over him and fell upon his back some twenty
yards farther on. Before he could get up, the Bear was upon him.
'Oh, you will suffocate him!' cried Baby Jane, and, indeed, it seemed
likely, for all of the Lion that was not covered by the Bear was seen to
be in violent motion.
[Illustration: The Lion flung himself ... at his enemy.]
But instead of showing any sympathy for his fallen foe, the Bear hit him
a sounding thump on the ribs.
'He's trying to bite,' he explained. 'I'll let him up when he says he'll
learn to dance.'
'Get off my head,' said the Lion in smothered tones.
'Oh, Lion, say you will!' pleaded Baby Jane. 'Get off my head,' said the
Lion.
[Illustration: 'Get off my head,' said the Lion.]
'Do as the young lady tells you,' said the Bear.
'Get off my head.'
'I will promise for him, Bear,' cried Baby Jane in despair.
'Oh, all right,' said the Bear, and he arose.
The Lion got up, looking very crushed and humble. He came crawling to
Baby Jane, and said--
'You saved me from being smothered, for I could never have obeyed that
Bear; but I _will_ learn to dance if _you_ wish it.'
[Illustration: Looking very crushed and humble.]
'That's right,' said Baby Jane briskly. 'Now we only want two more to
make a big enough class.'
'I know of another,' said the Bear, following Baby Jane's cheerful lead,
and off he set for a distant bend of the little river.
Very soon, with an amiable-looking lady Crocodile on his arm, he came
pacing back.
Although the lady Crocodile looked amiable, she seemed rather stupid,
and would answer no questions, but only smiled. Baby Jane noticed that
she seemed to have something on her mind--or in her mouth--and so it
proved, for when the Bear whispered something funny in her ear and made
her laugh out loud, a little nigger boy dropped out of her mouth.
[Illustration: With an amiable-looking lady Crocodile on his arm.]
Baby Jane was horrified, but still the little nigger was safe, now, and
to make a fuss would break up the whole party; so she said calmly--
'That makes six; now we can begin.'
For a class-room she chose a smooth patch of sand with no stones on it.
'Sit down in a row,' she said; 'the Bear and I will first show you a few
steps of the Gavotte.'
While she was doing up her hair into a knot--an arrangement that she
considered indispensable for that dance--the Bear stood brushing his
beautiful fur and preening himself like a clumsy canary, and then
shambled up looking very nervous. The others sat down awkwardly beside
one another, trying to be at their ease, but they were the oddest row of
creatures that ever sat down together, and not very likely to be
friendly. However, the Piccaninny and the Rabbit soon began a firm
friendship by playfully jogging one another over.
'Now!' said Baby Jane to the Bear, rather sternly, to cover the
uncertainty she herself felt in teaching the Gavotte. 'Take my hand.
One--two--three!'
'Oh, please, please stop,' said the Bear, 'I have got my legs so mixed.
Which is my right foot?'
And, indeed, you could hardly imagine how those short legs could have
got in such a muddle.
'Please tread on those toes,' he asked Baby Jane. 'No--those over here,
and then I shall know by the feel which is which.'
Baby Jane trod lightly.
'Left!' shouted the Bear. 'That is just as I thought!'
But, even having found out which was which, it took a little time and
the use of a palm branch as a lever to unmix them.
[Illustration: 'I have got my legs so mixed.']
After this the Bear did much better, and, indeed, put on quite a dainty
powder-and-brocade air.
All this while the others were turning slowly from a state of wondering
admiration to fidgetiness, and the Rabbit and the Piccaninny were
beginning to grow rough; so Baby Jane thought of something that
everybody would like.
'Now,' said she, 'I will teach you an easy Highland Schottische step.'
It was simply astounding--the way those creatures picked it up. As for
the Lion, for whom she made a little kilt and sporran of palm leaves to
make him more real, you could not believe how like a true Scot he
looked, and how Scottishly he bounded in the air and snapped his fingers
and yapped--you would hear no wilder yap in the Highlands.
Of course the Bear had a mishap. It was through treading on the
Crocodile's tail that he came down on a poor little Porcupine who had
crept out from a neighbouring cactus thicket and was dancing a little
fling all by himself. However, the Porcupine was not really hurt except
that he came out quite smooth--all his bristles having stuck in the
Bear. But, apart from this, everybody enjoyed it immensely. To be sure,
they had to sing the tune themselves, but that added to the fun.
'There's something else just as nice!' cried Baby Jane when they had
stopped, breathless, but eager for more. Then, with the Lion, she led
off in the Washington Post.
[Illustration: The Washington Post.]
Speak not of dancing in a room. What room is large enough when the
romping begins? What you want is a good large desert. That is what Baby
Jane and her pupils had, and it was grand. The Lion bounced so high that
Baby Jane was swung about like a leaf on a bough on a windy day, and had
nothing to do but waggle her toes in the air.
Afterwards, all rather tired, the creatures came and Baby Jane arranged
them round her, the Lion and the Bear on each side with her arms round
their necks, the Piccaninny and the Rabbit at her feet with their little
heads on her knees, and the Crocodile round the whole party like a
rampart.
'Isn't that better than being cruel, dears, and going about roaring and
fighting?' asked Baby Jane.
'Lots!' said the Lion, and the others all grunted approval.
And Baby Jane went to sleep in the midst of her pupils very proud and
happy, for she knew now that her plan would really work, and had found
what dears wild beasts were when you only knew them.