THE ARCHAEOPTERYX.
"But we always thought----" began Marjorie--
"That when people spoke of a sailor 'spinning a yarn,' they meant
telling a story," finished Dick.
"Oh! oh! how _could_ you think such a thing," said the sailors,
indignantly. "Sailors always tell the truth; don't they, Skipper?"
The Skipper winked at Dick with one eye, and answered, guardedly, "Ahem!
I _have_ heard a sailor speak the truth, certainly, but----"
"Let's change the subject," said the sailors, getting up from their
wheels. "Isn't it nearly time for us to be starting on another voyage?"
"When we get some passengers, it will be," responded the Skipper,
gruffly. "By-the-bye," he added, turning to the children; "_you_ want to
go somewhere or another, don't you?"
"Yes, to England," said Dick, eagerly. "Do you go there, please?"
"H'm! Never heard of the place as I knows of," said the Skipper,
scratching his head. "We might cruise about till we come across it, if
you like, though."
"Never heard of England!" exclaimed Dick.
"No," said the Skipper, unconcernedly. "I never had no time to study
goggerfy, I didn't, so there's lots of places I don't know, no more than
the Man in the Moon."
"But don't you find it very awkward?" cried the children; "however do
you know how to go from one place to another?"
"We don't know," said the Skipper, laughing; "that's just the fun of the
thing. We get into our ship, and just go on and on till we come to
somewhere or another, and then we land, you know. It's much the best
way, and saves such a lot of bother."
"I am afraid we should be a long while reaching England that way,"
remarked Dick, dubiously.
"Oh, I don't know," said the Skipper, "we might drop across it the first
time, you know. You see, it's not much use knowing in which direction
it lies, because, once you get out to sea, there are no roads and
things, so one way is as good as another."
"But don't you use a compass?" asked Marjorie.
"What's that, Miss?" asked the Skipper.
"Why, a little thing that always points to the North," said Marjorie.
"Blessed if I know, Miss," said the Skipper, good-naturedly. "Here,
Bill," he called to one of the sailors, "do we use a little thing that
always points to the North?"
"Not as I knows on," answered the man, sulkily. "We ain't got none of
them newfangled things, and don't want 'em."
"Dear me, what a very odd ship yours must be," said Dick. "Is it a
steamer, or a sailing vessel, please?"
"Oh, it's partly a sailing vessel and partly a rowing boat," said the
Skipper. "She's a very fine ship," he added, proudly, "come and have a
look at her."
The children followed him to a kind of rough harbor, where a most
extraordinary craft was moored. She looked very like a picture which
all the children remembered having seen in an old book at home, and
although there was a small sail, a number of gaily-painted paddles
sticking through the side of the huge boat, showed that, as the Skipper
had said, rowing played a very important part in moving it along.
"What a dear old-fashioned thing," exclaimed Marjorie, directly she saw
it.
The Skipper looked rather hurt. "It isn't more than a thousand years
old," he remarked.
"Well, that's an awful long time for a ship to last, isn't it?" said
Marjorie, pleasantly.
"Our family is much older than that," chimed in the Dodo,
consequentially. "We date back to----"
"Oh, please don't go into ancient history," said the Skipper, "I can't
bear it; it reminds me so of my younger days, when I was first learning
to skip."
"What _do_ you mean?" asked the children.
"Why, when I was a little boy, you know," explained the Skipper, "I used
to skip all the dry parts of a book--and the pages and pages I used to
skip of my ancient history you'd never believe. It was that which
decided my parents upon making me a Skipper. 'He'll never do for
anything else,' they used to say?"
"Well, are you going aboard or not?" he added, "because, if so, we ought
to be starting."
"Oh, yes, let's go," pleaded Marjorie, "we might just as well be on
board as at this place, you know, and we shall, at any rate, be going
somewhere, and perhaps we shall find some one who knows the way to
England on the sea."
So the children and the Dodo went aboard, and the Skipper blew a little
whistle, which he wore tied around his neck by a white cord, and the
sailors all came running up, bringing their spinning wheels, which they
packed away at the bow of the vessel, and then settled themselves down
at the oars. At the other end was a cosy little cabin, and above it a
small deck, upon which the little passengers made themselves quite
comfortable, and the Captain ordered the scales to be brought up from
below.
"What are they for?" asked Dick, who, boy-like, always wanted to know
the reason for everything.
"To weigh the anchor with," explained the Skipper, seriously. "We always
have to weigh it when we start on a voyage, and again when we reach our
journey's end."
"What for?" asked Dick, who certainly remembered having heard the
expression "weighing the anchor" before.
"Oh, I don't know, I'm sure," said the Skipper; "pack of nonsense, I
calls it; but it's the custom, and it's got to be done."
So the anchor was duly weighed, and the exact weight put down in a book,
and the _Argosy_, as the ship was called, slowly moved out of the
harbor.
It was a beautiful day, but there was just a little breeze blowing, and
the sea was a little "choppy" outside, and, as a consequence, the
_Argosy_ rolled a little.
After they had been out at sea for about an hour, and the Skipper had
been letting them take turns in looking through his telescope, the Dodo
suddenly muttered something about having "forgotten his
pocket-handkerchief," and hurried down into the cabin.
"Why, I didn't know he had one," said Marjorie, wonderingly.
[Illustration: "Hope you're feeling better, Sir."]
The Skipper winked, and said in a whisper behind his hand, "They always
say that; he's gone to lie down, the motion of the boat has made him
feel a little seasick."
The Dodo didn't come up for a long while and at last the Skipper said
he would go down and see if he wanted anything.
He found the poor bird looking the picture of misery, lolling limply
against the cushioned seat.
"Hope you're feeling better, Sir," he said, respectfully, tugging at his
forelock.
"Oh! oh!" groaned the Dodo. "Do throw me overboard, and let me die."
"Nonsense," said the Skipper, cheerfully. "You'll be all right in an
hour or two."
"Oh, no," said the bird; "I shall never be well again. I have never,
never felt so ill in all my life."
"Lie down, Sir, and I'll cover you up with this rug," said the Skipper,
kindly; "you'll be better presently."
"Don't tell the others," gasped the bird, faintly.
"All right, Sir," was the reply, and the Skipper went on deck again.
The breeze was quite fresh still, and the children had climbed up into
the "lookout," and were pointing eagerly into the distance.
"Land! over there!" shouted Dick, when he saw the Skipper.
"Oh! Ah! It's an island," said the Skipper. "I've been there before. The
Archaeopteryx lives there."
"The what?" cried the children.
[Illustration: "'Charmed to meet you,' said the Archaeopteryx."]
"The Archaeopteryx," repeated the Skipper. "It's an awful name, isn't
it?"
"What is he?" demanded Dick.
"A kind of lizardish bird, or a birdish lizard, whichever you like," was
the reply. "He's a great swell, I can tell you, and fancies himself
immensely."
The children were all eagerness to see this strange creature, and could
scarcely wait until the ship reached the land.
The Skipper went down and told the Dodo, who, directly he heard that
they would meet the Archaeopteryx, made a great effort to pull himself
together again.
"I mustn't let him see me in this state," he declared. "He is a distant
relative of mine, and a person of great consequence. Do you think," he
continued, addressing the Skipper, "that you could clean up my gloves a
little with some bread crumbs, they have become slightly soiled; and
would you kindly rearrange my necktie?"
These necessary preparations completed, the Dodo staggered up on deck
just as the _Argosy_ reached the shore.
The Archaeopteryx was waiting for them on the beach, and recognized the
Dodo immediately.
"Charmed to meet you again," he said, hurrying forward to meet him, and
raising his hat, with a polite bow. "Pray, introduce me to your
friends."