A Little Maid of Province Town

  CHAPTER IX

  THE CASTAWAYS

  "My, it was cold last night," shivered Amanda, as she and Anne went towardthe spring of fresh water which bubbled up near the shore for theirmorning drink. "I do wish Amos would plan some way to get us hometo-day."

  "How can he?" asked Anne; "he hasn't any oars, and see what a long way itis across the water to Long Point. He couldn't swim that far."

  "Yes, he could, too," declared Amanda, "and when the tide is out the wateris so shallow that you can see the yellow sand shining through. He couldswim some and walk some, and he'd get over there all right; then he couldwalk home and tell father and Captain Enos and they would come right afterus."

  "Why doesn't he go then?" questioned Anne. "I do know that my Aunt Marthais sadly worried; it is full two days since we set forth."

  "Amos likes to stay here," said Amanda, lowering her voice to a whisper;"he thinks it is fun to live as Indians do, and he doesn't want to gohome. If he gets enough to eat he'll stay and stay, and then he can tellJimmie Starkweather of being wrecked on an island."

  "Couldn't we get across to Long Point?" asked Anne.

  "No. We can't swim, and 'twould be foolish to try," answered Amanda.

  "We'll have cooked fish for dinner," said Amos as they ate beach-plums forbreakfast. "I'm sure I can find some punk somewhere on this island, andwhile I am looking for it you girls gather all the dry twigs you can find,make a good-sized hole in the sand and fill it up with dry stuff that willtake fire quickly, and I'll show you how Indians cook."

  "I'd rather have some Indian meal mush," replied Amanda; "can't you swimacross to Long Point, Amos, and hurry home and send some one after us?"

  Amos looked at her in astonishment, and then smiled broadly. "I know abetter way than that," he said, and without waiting to answer the girl'seager questions he ran off toward the thicket of pines.

  "We'll dig the hole in the sand, and then find some dry wood," said Anne;"anything cooked will taste good, won't it?"

  "Amos knows some way to get us home," said Amanda, "and he's got to tellus what it is, and start just as soon as he cooks his old fish. I wonderwhat it is!"

  Now that Amanda saw a prospect of getting home she felt more cheerful andso did Anne; and they gathered dry brush, bits of bark and handfuls of thesunburned beach-grass until the hole in the sand was filled, and there wasa good-sized heap of dry brush over it.

  "Do you suppose Amos can really make a fire?" asked Anne.

  "I guess he can," said Amanda. "Amos is real smart at queer things likethat, that other boys don't think about."

  "I've found some!" shouted Amos, as he leaped down the bank; "just alittle bit, in the stump of an old oak tree up here. Now wait till I getthe thole-pins, and you'll see," and he ran toward the dory and returnedwith a pair of smooth, round thole-pins, and sat down on the sand in frontof the brush heap. The precious piece of punk was carefully wrapped in apiece of the sleeve of his flannel blouse.

  "I had to tear it off," he explained, when Amanda pointed to the raggedslit, "for punk must be kept dry or it isn't a bit of use."

  He now spread the bit of flannel on the sand in front of him, and kneelingdown beside it began to rub the thole-pins across each other as fast as hecould move his hands. Anne and Amanda, kneeling on each side of him,looked on with anxious eyes.

  "There's a spark!" at last shouted Amanda.

  The spark fell on the dry punk, in an instant the punk caught and therewere several sparks, then Amos held a wisp of dry grass in front of it andblew vigorously, and the smouldering punk flamed up, the grass caught,Amos thrust it under the dry brush, and in less than a minute the wholemass was burning briskly. The children all jumped about it in delight.

  "My, I wish we could have had a fire like that last night, when I was socold," said Amanda.

  "We'll keep it burning now," said Amos. "I've always wanted to start afire this way. I think it's better than flint and tinder," for in thosedays the wooden splint matches were not known in the settlement, and fireswere started by rubbing flint and steel together until a spark caught.

  "We are going home this afternoon," said Amanda, so firmly that Amoslooked at her in surprise.

  "What for?" he asked. "I think it's fine here. We've got a house and afire, and we'll have fish enough to last----"

  "We are going home," interrupted Amanda; "it's horrid here, and everybodywill be afraid we are drowned."

  A little smile crept over Amos's freckled face. "'twill indeed be a taleto tell Jimmie Starkweather," he said, looking admiringly at thebrush-covered shelter, and then at the brisk fire. "'Tis a shipwreck suchas no boy in the settlement has had."

  Amos asked no more questions, but sent the girls after more dry brush,while he dug another hole in the sand. Then with a long stick he pushedthe hot wood and coals from the first hole into the second, and carefullylaid the big plaice fish on the hot sand, pushed a thick covering of hotsand over it, and started a new fire on top of it.

  "'twill be baked to a turn," he said to his sister and Anne; "'Tis the waythe Indians cook fish and mussels and clams. I have seen them."

  "We'll go home as soon as we can eat it," said Amanda; "'twill be low tideby that time, and if you have no better plan for us, Amos, Anne and I willwade to Long Point."

  "Wade!" repeated Amos scornfully; "you'd be drowned."

  "Then tell us your plan," urged Amanda, while Anne looked at himpleadingly. She had thought much about her father as she lay awake underthe roof of pine boughs, and wondered if some word from him might not havereached the settlement. She thought, too, about the scarlet stockings, andwished herself back in the little brown house on the hill. So she said,"We must go home, Amos."

  "I wish you girls had stayed home," muttered Amos; "if some of the boyshad come we'd have had a good time here; but girls always want to go home.Well, I'll get you to Long Point without swimming," and again Amos smiled,for he had a secret of his own that he knew would greatly surprise Amandaand Anne.

  It was not long before he began scraping the hot embers from the sandunder which the fish was cooking. Then he poked the hot sand away, andthere lay the plaice, steaming and smoking, and sending out an appetizingodor.

  "There!" said Amos proudly, as he managed to cut off a piece with hisjack-knife for each of the girls, "that's as good fish as you evertasted."

  "It's the best," said Anne, and Amanda ate hungrily. Indeed the childrenwere all so hungry that they devoured the entire fish.

  "If you'll stay till to-morrow I'll cook the cod," said Amos, but bothAmanda and Anne said they wanted to go home. So Amos with their helppushed and dragged the dory into the water, and then telling the girls tostay right by the boat until he returned, started off up the beach towhere he had found the mussels. In a few minutes they saw him runningback.

  "Look, Amanda!" exclaimed Anne, "he's found an oar!"

  The little girls could hardly believe it possible; but Amos was smilingand seemed to think it was a great joke.

  "I found it yesterday morning, the very first thing, when you were offafter beach-plums," he explained, "and I hid it, because I knew if I toldyou I'd found an oar you'd want to start for home right off; and as longas we were here I wanted some fun out of it. Now jump in, and I'll scullyou over to Long Point in no time."

  The girls were too glad at the idea of really starting for home to blameAmos for keeping them on the island so long, but Anne thought to herselfthat she was sure that none of the Starkweather boys would have hidden theoar. "Amos is smart, but he's selfish," she decided, as the boy bent tothe big oar and sent the clumsy boat toward Long Point.

  "'Tis a good oar, better than the one I lost," said Amos, "and I do think'twas lost from one of the English ships. There's a big 'S' burned intothe handle. Mayhap it belonged to the 'Somerset.' If so I'm glad they lostit."

  "'twas the 'Somerset' ran down my father's boat and nigh drowned him,"said Anne, "and the sailors lent him no help, but laughed to see himstruggle till he reached near enough
their ship to clamber up."

  "I wish I could be a soldier like your father," said Amos, and at thisAnne looked upon him more kindly.

  "Scull faster, Amos," urged Amanda; "the sun is not two hours high, and'Tis a long walk through the sand before we can get home. I do hope we'llget there before milking time that I may have a drink of warm milk."

  When the boat touched the sandy shore of Long Point, Anne and Amandascrambled over the bow and urged Amos to hurry.

  "I must make the boat safe," he said; "'twould be a sad loss to have thetide take her out. And I'll hide this good oar, too. To-morrow JimmieStarkweather and I will sail down and tow her back, and maybe take a lookat the island," and Amos looked back regretfully to the shores they hadjust left.

  The dory was drawn up beyond reach of the tide, the oar hidden under thesand, and the children started on their walk toward home. The distance wasbut two miles, but walking through the loose sand was hard and tiresome.

  "I slip back a step every step I take," said Anne; "look, the sun isnearly out of sight now."

  "The milk will be strained and set ere this," said Amanda mournfully;"there's not even a beach-plum grows on this point, and the long grasscuts my feet whenever I come near it."

  "You could have had another baked fish by this time if you would havestayed on the island," said Amos complainingly.

  After this the children plodded on in silence for a long time. The harvestmoon rose beyond the harbor and smiled down upon them. There was a silveryglint all over the water, and as they came round one of the big piles ofsand, which are so often seen along the coast of Cape Cod, they allstopped and looked out across the harbor. It was Amos who pointed toward abig ship riding at anchor, perhaps a mile from the shore.

  "There's the 'Somerset' back again," he said. "I wonder if there's anyharm done at the settlement?"