A little gipsy lass

by Gordon Stables

UP in the north the weather continued clear and calm and beautiful; woods and forests, now bedded with fallen leaves, a carpet on which those feeble folk the coneys played and gambolled all day long, but ready, aye ready, to dart into their burrows should their 'cute, alert ears detect the sound of a footfall or snapping of a twiglet in the distance.

The sun went down about three in the afternoon now, but the gloaming was long, and the stars ever so large and near and brilliant. Indeed, the tallest spruce-trees seemed high enough to move amongst them, one would have thought. The aurora borealis danced and flitted on the northern sky above the sea every night, their marching spears of light sometimes darting upwards as far as the zenith.

There was but little doing in camp at present. The show was seldom visited except when some new feature was advertised in the neighbouring towns. The merman, it was stated in the Murlin and Creel, was hibernating, but sometimes awoke and came to the surface, ravenous for want of food. The dreaded dooroocoolie gave voice but seldom now, but was quite prepared to swallow any boy under fifteen that came within reach of its fearful jaws.

It must not be supposed, however, that there was any such thing as idleness in the camp. No, for every one under Biffins Lee had to work hard for his 'screw.' Moreover, there was to be great doings about the New Year, and when these were over the Queerest Show would be preparing for the spring campaign. But New Year's Day was some distance ahead yet, so Lotty had plenty of time to row, to sail, and manœuvre her New Jenny Wren. She took the skiff out first all alone by herself, but did not venture to sail. So pleased with her seaworthiness was she that she next took Chops with her, and this youth was even a better sailor than Lotty. They tried the Jenny Wren with the mainsail, then with mainsail and jib, and in a second and third cruise also with the gaff most tentatively. The ballast was well secured so as not to shift, and Lotty clapped her hands with delight to see how close to the wind the pretty craft could sail, and how like a 'puffick hangel,' as Chops called her, she behaved.

Then after this Lotty ventured out alone with Wallace, bending what she called her storm-jib, and having a reef in the mainsail, but no gaff. With so well-ballasted and nicely built a boat this was a very safe rig. Last of all, she took Antony himself for a sail, and tried the experiment of having Wallace at the same time lying on a lot of tarpaulin for'ard towards the bows. Everything went well, and young Blake expressed himself as delighted beyond measure.

Lotty's experiments were not nearly all over yet. But the thoughtful child always went alone when there was the slightest danger, and there was always a spice of this when there was a bit of a breeze on. On such occasions the marvel was that the Jenny Wren did not capsize; but her little skipper evidently knew what she was about. She went round, too, with the greatest caution; and sometimes, had she not been one of the strongest girls for her age that ever swung an Indian club, her boat-sail would have defeated her. She always kept her craft well trimmed, and had an eagle eye to the ballast before she put to sea. And such confidence did Lotty gain at last, not only in her own prowess and management, but in the seaworthiness and good qualities of the Jenny Wren, that she feared nothing, and never seemed to be so much at home as when out on the open sea.

Biffins Lee, to tell the whole truth, rather encouraged her in rashness than the contrary. This man was inordinately fond of money, or rather perhaps the making of it. To him this was a species of gambling that he could never tire of; and now—at times when Lotty was out in her boat, 'evoluting,' as she called it—he used to walk the beach, watching her through his spyglass, and wondering whether he could not make this infant prodigy of his pay as a daring child-sailor.

It is doubtful whether he had any real love for Lotty apart from the money she brought to his purse, the grist to his mill. Her feats of strength were certainly marvellous enough in all conscience for one so young. Somehow, Frank Antony did not like to see his little friend on the stage performing any of her 'tit-bits,' as she laughingly called them. He had seen her once swinging the clubs to music with a gracefulness of strength and attitudes such as he had never believed possible. But he had not gone a second time. He used to hear the wild shouts of applause sometimes when he knew her to be acting, and was satisfied with that.

There is, of course, a deal of art and artfulness in feats of strength. Every muscle of the body must be made the right use of at the proper time, and every nerve and sinew has to perform its own duty in its own place. There must be method, else, to put it in plain language, one muscle may get in the way of the other.

It was very easy for Lotty, after getting gracefully into position, to have Skeleton to leap nimbly on her shoulders and stand there, a trained cat running up his back and sitting down on his head, and finally a white rat to run up over all, and, standing on pussy's back, wave the Union-jack. It was more difficult for Lotty to balance herself with one foot on Wallace's shoulders and one on his rump, her arms extended, and thus permit Skeleton to take his place on her shoulders. But the main feat of strength undoubtedly lay in rising off the stage, on which she had crouched, with all the weight of Mary the fat lady on her back. This was not only wonderful, but it was positive cruelty to the child. Only, it brought down the house, and that was all Biffins Lee cared about.