MILLY'S ESCAPE.
THE person to be thought of first of all was grandma, who was an old
lady, and not very strong. Mrs. Morgan proposed that she should have
a room in the public house close by the beach, and lie down while the
gentlemen caught fish, and others made ready for the famous chowder.
But she said the salt air strengthened her; and she wished to breathe
all she could of it.
So, instead of having the horses taken out at the stable, Uncle George
drove down to a great rock close by the high water mark, and then had
the hostler unharness and lead the horses back.
Mr. Ward thought this a capital idea, and did the same. Then, with the
cushions of both carriages, they made a most comfortable lounge on the
back seat, where grandma could lie and watch everything that was going
on.
Mr. Morgan and Mr. Ward then took their fish tackle, and started off
for the rocks to catch rock perch, while the ladies unpacked the
baskets, and the children gathered stones into a heap to set the kettle
on, and plenty of sticks for the fire.
All were amused to watch Milly, running here and there in search of
a stone of the right size, then tugging it toward the pile, her eyes
shining, her checks rosy, her hat off, and her hair streaming behind
her.
At last, the small chimney, as Ernest called it, was built. And Milly
took her basket and wandered off in search of bright mosses; leaving
Emily and Ernest to gather sticks to make the pot boil.
The other children being too young to run round by themselves, played
around the carriages, or gathered stones and shells within their reach.
Emily and Ernest wandered here and there till they were almost out of
sight of the great rock near which the carriages stood. They had each
gathered an armful of broken pieces and were about to return with them
for the fire, when Ernest threw his down and kneeled upon the sand,
calling out to Emily to come and see what he had found.
There, on the smooth, silvery beach, lay a large, round,
slippery-looking creature, basking itself in the sun. Earnest did not
know what it was; but by the description, his father afterwards told
him, it was called a jelly fish. It was a disgusting creature; but the
boy didn't care for that. He took one of his sticks, and punched it;
and then, as it did not stir, he told Emily it was dead. When they had
examined it as long as they wished, and Emily had filled her pocket
with smooth, bright stones, Ernest picked up his sticks again, and they
went back to the rock.
"Where is Milly?" inquired Mrs. Morgan.
[Illustration: "He took one of his sticks, and punched it."]
"I thought she would be back here by this time," answered Emily. "She
did not go with us."
"Which way did she go?"
"Round the other side of the rock."
The lady looked very anxious. "I'm afraid she will be lost," she said.
"Some of us must go and look for her."
Cousin Mary Roby, and also Mrs. Ward's sister Jennette, at once
volunteered to make the search. So taking the sun umbrellas, they
started off in the direction Emily had seen her cousin go.
But neither in this, nor in any other direction, could they find her.
They inquired of children coming and going, if they had seen a little
girl with a basket; but no one had noticed her. At last, they were
obliged to return without any intelligence of the wanderer.
"What shall we do?" exclaimed her aunt, in real distress. "It was very
wrong of her to go out of sight."
"Oh, mamma! Don't say so," urged Emily. "I'm sure she didn't mean to do
wrong."
"Did you call her name, Mary?"
"We tried to; but the roaring of the water quite drowned our feeble
voices."
"I must go at once," said Mrs. Morgan, taking a broad rimmed hat from
the carriage. "I do wish George would come."
Just at this moment, there was a loud shout from behind the rock.
"Emily! Emily!"
"Oh, that's Milly!" screamed her cousin. "I'm so very glad."
"So am I," added her mother. "I was really alarmed."
"Why, what have you been doing!" exclaimed Emily, as she caught sight
of her cousin whose clothes were dripping with wet; but whose face was
beaming with delight.
"I was almost drowned," said Milly calmly. "But I've got some beauties.
Look here!"
She held up her basket, lifting two or three bright red pieces of moss.
"But, Milly, you'll take cold with those wet clothes. Come right to
mamma."
"Well, I will, if you'll put this under Uncle George's seat. Don't let
any body see you. I'll show them to you when we get home."
Poor Milly was indeed a sight to behold. She had lost the ribbon that
tied back her hair. And by constantly putting up her wet hands to
push the locks from her face, she had covered her forehead with sand;
her boots were saturated with water, and her skirts dripped with wet.
Nobody seemed to know what to do with her, till grandma proposed to
take off her wet garments, wrap her in a shawl, and let her stay in the
carriage till her clothes dried, which they would in a few minutes, if
hung in the hot sun.
Lying on the seat beside grandma, with the roaring of the billows to
lull her, Milly's tender heart was at rest.
She told the old lady that she jumped on a rock to look at the waves,
and staid there so long that the water came up all around her. At
first, she thought it would go away again; but it came up higher and
higher, until it covered her feet on the rock.
"How did you feel?" asked grandma, greatly moved. "Were you afraid?"
"I was at first, but not after I asked God to take care of me. He knows
I've been trying to be good. Then I thought of Emily; and I felt awful
bad when I said 'I shall never see her again.' So I shut my eyes, and
jumped right into the water, and a great wave came and pushed me right
up on the beach. Wasn't God real good to answer my prayer so quick? It
makes me love him dearly, dearly."
"He was indeed, my dear child, I hope you will never forget it."
"No, ma'am, I never shall. When I go back to India, I shall tell my
father. I know he'll be glad, too. I mean to go as soon as I can, so
as to tell the poor Hindoos about God. When they know how to read the
Bible they'll learn to be neat, you know."