CHAPTER VII.
WATER PLAY
THE floating wharf, as has been said, lay at the end of a long, narrowslip that ran out on piers over the water. Down the slip, one by one,now came the Merryweathers and their guests, in bathing array, the boysshouting and skylarking,--the girls singing and tossing their long hairabout. Jack and Phil brought out a long spring-board, and set it up atthe end of the wharf; and then the fun began. Mr. Merryweather was thefirst to run along the board, and take a sober and dignified dive. Hewas followed by Gerald, turning handsprings, and carolling to the effectthat he was a pirate king, he was; hurrah for the pirate king! Nextcame Jack, who turned a back somersault, ending with a noble splash;and so, one by one, like so many ducks, they dove and leaped and tumbledin, and splashed and swam about in the clear water. Peggy was with therest, splashing as merrily as any of them; but Margaret sat on thewharf, in her pretty blue bathing-dress, her feet tucked under her,looking on.
"'COME ON! COME IN!'"]
"Come on, Margaret!" cried Peggy. "Come on! come in! It's perfectlygreat!"
"In a minute," said Margaret. "I like to watch you a bit first; it takesme a little while to get my courage up."
"Come, oh, come with me!" sang Gerald, emerging from the water, at herfeet, and clinging to the wharf, while he shook the drops from his hairand eyes. "Come swim with me and be my swan! Come where the duckweedtwineth! Come!"
"Oh, Gerald, yes; in just a minute. Is it very cold?"
"Cold? No; just right. Liquid crystal, sparkling sapphire, perfection!Come, you must have your swimming lesson. Forget the cheerfulswain,--behold the stern instructor!"
He held out his hand with an imperative gesture. Margaret laid hers init timidly.
"Let me get near the rope!" she said, rather nervously.
"Here is the rope, close by your hand. Now, then, hold fast! There wego!"
With one hand on the rope, and the other in Gerald's, Margaret slid intothe water, giving a little cry as it bubbled up about her. "Gerald!"
"Right here, my lady. There; both hands on the rope now. Take it easy!Now you are all right."
"Ye'--yes, Gerald. Oh, isn't it glorious?"
"Rather! It's really the element to live in, you see. A mistake wasmade somewhere. If I had but gills, I should ask no more of fate. As itis--"
He dove, and came up on the other side of the rope. "Don't you think Iwould be charming with gills,--pretty little quivering, rosygills,--instead of side whiskers?"
"I never saw you in side whiskers," said Margaret, demurely, "so Icannot tell. You certainly don't seem to need the gills, though. How_do_ you manage to keep under so long? Yesterday, when you stayed downpicking up these pebbles, I was sure something had happened. Really,Gerald, I was very much frightened."
"I ought to have been switched," said Gerald. "I never thought of yournoticing. I say, come down with me, and I'll show you the trick of it.It's just as easy!"
"Not for worlds!" cried Margaret, clutching the rope, as if she expectedto be dragged from it by force. "I never should come up alive. Oh,look, Gerald! what are they going to do now?"
"Going to dive over the elephants. Do you mind--oh, here is the child,Toots. Toots, will you stay here by Margaret, while I take my place inthe ring? You are sure you are all right, Margaret?"
"Oh, yes; do go. I want to see it. Gertrude, what _are_ they doing?"
"Look and see," said Gertrude. "Put your arms on the rope, and liftyourself higher. That's right."
Phil and Jack and Willy had placed themselves side by side, on theirhands and knees, at the edge of the wharf, and were calling loudly forGerald. He stepped back to the farther end of the float, then, runningforward, soared into the air, over the backs of the "elephants," andcame down straight as an arrow into the water; then, scrambling out,took his place in the row, while Phil performed the same manoeuvre.Over and over and over they went, running, rising, plunging, risingagain. Margaret grew dizzy watching them. Now Mr. Merryweather advanced,holding a rubber hoop, which was neither more nor less than thediscarded tire of a bicycle. This he and Gerald held out at arm'slength, and the other boys dove through it, amid the applause of thegirls.
"Oh, pretty!" cried Peggy. "Do you do that, girls?"
"Gertrude does; I haven't tried it yet," said Bell, who was floatingplacidly, her arms under her head, her face turned to the sky.
"I am going to try," said Peggy. "May I, Mr. Merryweather?"
"By all means!" said the Chief, heartily. "Take a good run--steady,Jerry. Hold it out well--there! hurrah!"
For Peggy had gone through the hoop like a bird, and after a clean dive,was coming up again, radiant and panting.
"Oh, Peggy, how splendid!" cried Margaret, her eyes shining withpleasure and pride in her Peggy's prowess. "Gertrude, didn't she do itwell? Such a pretty, graceful thing to do."
"_C'etait une corquerre!_" said Gerald, heartily. "_Elle est aussi unecorquerre, la Peggy._ You will be doing it soon yourself."
"Oh, never, never! You cannot seem to understand, Gerald, that I am not_made_ for these things. I love to see them; I admire them intensely,but I cannot so much as think of trying."
"_Point de stonte pour Marguerite?_" said Gerald. "Alas the day! Becauseyou really would do them so corkingly, you know, if only you should dothem. Well, see here, I am going to give you a troll. You will likethat, I am sure."
"A troll? I thought they were mountain goblins. I don't want one, thankyou, sir! water nixies and pixies are as much as I can bear in thegoblin line."
"Verb, not substantive!" replied Gerald.
"I troll, thou lettest thyself be trolled, he, she, or it sees you beingtrolled and wishes that he, she, or it had such luck. Observe!"
He climbed into one of the Rangeley boats that lay near the float,loosed her moorings, and, taking up the oars, brought her close to therope. "Now, Margaret, catch hold; here, at the stern!"
"What are you going to do with me, Gerald? I fear thee, ancient mariner,I fear thy skinny hand!"
"I hold you with my glittering eye, you cannot choose but come. I amgoing to take you off a-trolling. Hold on tight with your hands, and letall the rest of you go, as if you had nothing to do with it."
He took a few strokes, slowly and easily. Margaret, clinging to thestern, was drawn along without effort or motion of her own. Her longhair floated behind her; her white arms gleamed like ivory through theclear water; her face was alight with pleasure.
"'Not wholly bad, Lysander Pratt?'" quoted Gerald, interrogatively.
"Oh, Gerald! it is almost too perfect! no, you needn't stop, I only said_almost_. The water feels like silk flowing by me: no, silk is roughbeside it; it feels like--like--"
"Like water, possibly?" said Gerald; "stranger things have been."
"Well, there isn't anything else like it, is there? Oh! are you sure youwill not take cold or anything, Gerald? I could go on forever, floatinghere--trolling, I mean."
"Nothing easier," said Gerald, pulling on with long, steady strokes. "Wewill just keep on; I ask nothing better. Years passed. A form was seen,gray and bent with age, feebly tugging at a pair of oars. Trailingbehind the crazy boat, another figure might be distinguished--I forbearfurther description, Margaret: I may grow old, but not you; please stayas you are always. Anyhow, the people will flock to the shore. Ha! theMuse! the afflatus descends.
"The people thronged the rocky shore, And viewed that graybeard old and hoar; 'Oh! why thus dodderest at the oar, Unhappy soul?' The answer came: 'Forever more She wished to troll!'"
"Gerald, I think we'd better go back now."
"Wait! she hasn't finished. Never interrupt a Muse! it isn't the thingto do.
"And still along that rocky coast, A gibbering yet a gallant ghost, He dodders, dodders at his post, Nor nears the goal; For she, the spook he cares for most, Still loves to troll."
"Gerald, take me back, please! see, we are e
ver so far from shore, andit is time for me to go in, I am sure."
"Just look down, Margaret! see the bottom, all white sand; isn't thatpleasant? Hi! there's a bream watching his nest. See him fanning aboutover it, never leaving the place. He'll keep that up for hours at atime. Domestic party, the bream! this is an excellent opportunity tostudy the habits of--"
"Gerald, I am cold!"
"We'll be there in two minutes!" said Gerald, settling to his oars."Hold tight, now, Margaret! troll as the wolves of Apennine were allupon your track!" and with long, powerful strokes he sent the boatflying through the water, while Margaret fairly shrieked with delightand excitement.
Her face had been turned away from the float; but now she was speedingtoward it, and looked eagerly to see what the others of the party weredoing. To her great amazement, no one was in sight. The wharf lay wetand glistening in the sunshine, but no blue-clad figures leaped andpranced across it, no merry faces emerged from the blue, sparklingwater. All was silent and solitary.
"Why, Gerald," cried Margaret, "where are they all? have they gone in?Surely I heard their voices just a moment ago, and a great splash: wherecan they be?"
"A stunt!" replied Gerald. "For our benefit, I presume, but I scorntheir levity. I advise you to take no notice of their childish pranks. Imyself was young, once upon a time, but what then?"
They were now at the float, and Margaret looked about her, in utteramazement. All was silent; not a voice, not a whisper; no soul was insight. It was as if she and Gerald were alone in the world. She steppedout on the float: at the instant, up from under her feet rose a sound asif the biggest giant that ever swung a club were sneezing. "A--_tchoo_!"
Margaret screamed outright. "Gerald! what is it?"
"Come out from there!" cried Gerald. "They are under the float,imbeciles that they are. The Pater has gone ashore, and the othersmanifest their nature, that is all. Come out, Apes of the Apennines! orI'll--"
The threat remained unfinished, for the Merryweathers came out. Swarmingup from under the float, where they had been treading water at theirease, with plenty of breathing-space, they flung themselves with oneaccord upon Gerald's boat, capsized it, and dragged him into the water.A great splashing contest ensued, with much shouting and merriment, andthey were still hard at it when "All in!" sounded from the boat-house.