"Oh, hurry, Captain," begged Marjorie, "Tim, Uncle Spencer's dog, is in the water and I want to bring him aboard."
"Here, mates, bring me a life line," shouted Capt. Noah, and in less time than I can take to tell it the line was thrown to the little dog, who managed to catch hold of it with his teeth just in time, for the Ark was going at a tremendous rate of speed.
"Don't haul in too fast," advised Capt. Noah, as his three sons began pulling in the rope, "or he'll be drawn under the water and smothered before we can get him aboard."
At last, the little dog was landed safely on the deck. Everybody ran away from him to avoid getting a shower bath as he shook himself again and again.
"Well, you've all proved to be brave lifesavers," said Mrs. Noah. "Now I'll give him some warm milk and dry him by the kitchen fire, or he may get a severe cold. Goodness knows what would happen if he gave it to the other animals and they all got to sneezing and coughing at the same time."
And then the good woman took the little dog down into the hold of the Ark, where the pantry and kitchen were, and he was soon fast asleep by the stove, none the worse for his wetting.
It was now time for supper, so Mrs. Noah busied herself preparing the evening meal, while Capt. Noah and his three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth, fed the animals. This was not an easy matter, for each animal had a different taste, and the fodder had to be carefully measured so as to give each one enough and no more.
The elephant ate almost a bale of hay for each meal, and the lion ate about twenty large Delmonico steaks.
"It's lucky we haven't a whale on board," said Capt. Noah, as he rolled a bale of hay up to Mrs. Elephant, at the same time warning Ham not to give the lion a sirloin steak by mistake.
"You might feed the pigs, too," he added, wiping his forehead with a red-bordered handkerchief. "They seem to like you, Ham. I guess they consider you one of the family!"