“Land ahoy, on the starboard side,” called out the Ancient Mariner presently, when an island came in sight to the right of them.
“There, now we are going to be cartwrecked, I suppose,” cried Girlie, as they drifted towards it (for she thought that this must be the proper word to use under the circumstances). She was greatly relieved, however, to find that the cart, when they neared the island, rose quietly on a large wave, which lifted them gently on to the sand and then receded, leaving them high and dry on the shore.
CHAPTER XII
THE SPHINX AND THE BATHING-MACHINE WOMAN.
THEY all scrambled down from the cart and looked at each other in dismay.
“Whatever shall we do now?” said the Ancient Mariner. “I’ve never had such a thing happen to me before.”
“Explore the island,” said Girlie promptly. “People always do that the first thing when they get cast on a desolate island.” You see she had read so many of her brothers’ books about shipwrecks and adventures of that kind that she knew exactly what to do. “Then we must build a hut,” she went on (thinking of Robinson Crusoe), “and stop here till some passing ship sees our signals of distress and rescues us. Oh! it will be lovely!” and Girlie danced about delightedly. The others did not seem to be half so pleased about it as she did, and the Wallypug remarked dejectedly that he “didn’t see what they should do for food.”
“Oh! you and the Ancient Mariner will have to go out shooting game and things, and catch fishes and turtles,” said Girlie, “and we will stop at home and cook them and keep the house tidy; that’s the way people do in books.”
“But we haven’t any guns to shoot with,” objected the Ancient Mariner.