The Admiral's CaravanCarryl, Charles E. (Charles Edward)
Science
The Admiral's Caravan
Carryl, Charles E. (Charles Edward)
Fairy tales
"Not at all," said the Admiral, cheerfully. "The falling part of it was
quite agreeable--so cool and rushing, you know; but the landing was
tremenjious severe."
"Banged us like anything," explained the Highlander; and with this the
Caravan locked arms and walked away with the tails of their shawls
trailing behind them.
"What strange little things they are!" said Dorothy, reflectively, as
she walked along after them, "and they're for all the world precisely
like arimated dolls--movable, you know," she added, not feeling quite
sure that "arimated" was the proper word,--"and speaking of dolls,
here's a perfect multitude of 'em!" she exclaimed, for just then she
came upon a long row of dolls beautifully dressed, and standing on
their heels with their heads against the wall. They were at least five
times as big as Dorothy herself, and had price-tickets tucked into their
sashes, such as "2/6, CHEAP," "5_s._, REAL WAX," and so on; and Dorothy,
clapping her hands in an ecstasy of delight, exclaimed: "Why, it's a
monstrous, enormous toy-shop!" and then she hurried on to see what else
there might be on exhibition.
"Marbles, prob'bly," she remarked, peering over the edge of a basket
full of what looked like enormous stone cannon-balls of various colors;
"for mastodons, _I_ should say, only I don't know as _they_ ever play
marbles,--grocery shop, full of dear little drawers with real knobs on
'em,--'pothecary's shop with _true_ pill-boxes," she went on, examining
one delightful thing after another; "and here's a farm out of a box, and
all the same funny old things--trees with green shavings on them and
fences with feet so they'll stand up, and here's the dear fam'ly, same
size as the trees and the houses, of course, and--oh! I beg your
pardon," she exclaimed, for her frock had touched the farmer and knocked
him over flat on his back. "And here's a Noah's Ark, full of
higgledy-piggledy animals--why, what are you doing here?" she cried,
for just at that moment she suddenly discovered the Caravan, all huddled
together at the door of the ark, and apparently discussing something of
vast importance.
"We're buying a camel," said the Admiral, excitedly; "they've got just
the one we want for the Caravan."
"His name is Humphrey," shouted the Highlander, uproariously, "and he's
got three humps!"
"Nonsense!" cried Dorothy, bursting into a fit of uncontrollable
laughter. "There never was such a thing."
"They have 'em in arks," said the Admiral, very earnestly. "You can find
_anything_ in arks if you only go deep enough. I've seen 'em with
patriarchs in 'em, 'way down at the bottom."
"Did _they_ have any humps?" inquired the Highlander with an air of
great interest.
Dorothy went off again into a burst of laughter at this. "He's really
the most ignorant little creature I ever saw," she said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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