The Voyage of the HoppergrassPearson, Edmund Lester
General
The Voyage of the Hoppergrass
Pearson, Edmund Lester
Boats and boating -- Juvenile fiction; Pirates -- Juvenile fiction
"There has been more doing in these three days," said Ed Mason,
"than usually happens in a month,"
"But the voyage has been tame and uneventful," said Mr. Daddles,
"compared with one my uncle made in these very parts, three years
ago."
"What happened to him?"
"Why, he was one of the sixty-seven sole survivors of the famous
wreck of the 'Hot Cross Bun'."
"Where was she wrecked?" asked Jimmy.
"On Pelican Point."
"How many were drowned?"
"No one was drowned. That was the trouble."
"Trouble?"
"Yes. They all got to hating each other so, and the food worried
'em so much, that they used to wade out in batches every morning
and TRY to drown themselves. It was the food mostly. You see the
'Hot Cross Bun' was an excursion steamer,--like that one we just
saw at the wharf. She wasn't on an excursion this time, however,--
she was making a regular trip between one of the islands in this
Bay and the mainland. That's the charm of Broad Bay,--there are
so many islands and towns that almost anything can happen.
"Well, this steamboat had on board a miscellaneous lot of
passengers, including a bird-study club, a fife and drum corps,
and two scissors-grinders. It wasn't until the boat was wrecked in
a thick fog, and they tried to exist on Pelican Point for four
days,--foggy all the time--that they found out what it was going
to be like. The Point is cut off from the mainland in bad weather,
you know. Well, they examined the food supply of the 'Hot Cross
Bun' and they found that it consisted of thirty-seven dozen sticks
of pineapple chewing gum, four quarts of peanuts, (these went the
very first day), eight pounds of half-petrified Turkish Delight,
six boxes of all-day-suckers, and about thirty thousand chocolate
mice.
"Now, all these things are very delightful when you're on dry
land, and can have them now and then, so to speak. But Pelican
Point wasn't dry, and the food got awfully tiresome! Why, my
uncle,--he's a bishop, and very regular in his habits--told me he
got so that he almost thought he wouldn't mind if he never saw a
chocolate mouse again as long as he lived!
"On the third day came the mutiny. The bird-study club had been
complaining--"
Mr. Daddles paused.
"Are you waiting for us, Captain?"
"The flap-jacks are ready," said Captain Bannister, from below.
"Why did they mutiny?" asked Spike.
"After supper," said Mr. Daddles, gravely, "I will conclude my
account of the wreck of the 'Hot Cross Bun'."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account