There were performing Shetland ponies at the Queerest Show on Earth, and with these not only Lotty, but Chops, Skeleton, and Mary performed in a marvellous way. One pony was but little bigger than Wallace, and the two together never failed to create quite a sensation, so numerous were the tricks they tried. The strange thing is this: in their play not even Biffins Lee himself knew beforehand exactly what was going to take place. There appeared to be the most complete understanding betwixt dog and pony. Sometimes it was Wallace who suggested a new antic, and sometimes it was evidently the pony. But it was certain that both of them were delighted with the roars of laughter they succeeded in eliciting from the audience. At the conclusion of a performance like this Lee would come to the front of the stage, leading Wallace with his left hand and Tony the pony with his right. Both animals bent low their heads and forelegs by way of making a bow, then Lee would put to his audience the question: 'Which is the nobler animal?' and asked for a show of hands, first for Wallace, and then for Tony. It was not always apparent who had it. Only, Wallace was not yet eighteen months old, while Tony scored ten years.
No, it was not Lotty the show-girl whom Antony loved—well, liked, then—but Lotty, his dear, delightful little companion of the woods and wilds.
. . . . . . .
Terrible are the squalls that sometimes rise suddenly during the winter over this far northern sea, and frequently they break the weather for days. Probably Lotty had become too confident in the sailing qualities and prowess of her tiny yacht and in her undoubted abilities as skipper; and she thus grew almost foolhardy. But then she was only a child, albeit an infant prodigy.
There is a long twilight even in winter up in these latitudes; but one afternoon the sea was so inviting, the sky so serene, that Lotty had been manœuvring the Jenny Wren farther from shore than probably she believed herself to be. Suddenly she noticed a huge black cloud rising rapidly up in the south-west. So dense and dark was it that, though fringed along its top-edge at first by the yellow-gold light of sunset, it speedily assumed the appearance of a huge pall obscuring the sky and obliterating every vestige of twilight from the surface of the sea. Lotty could see a line of foam approaching, and for the first time in her boating career she felt nervous. She never lost her presence of mind for one moment, however.
The wind had changed a bit, and well she knew it would soon blow almost a hurricane off the shore. But she was ready. Down went the helm; she lowered sail quickly. The danger was in broaching-to, and she had to act as skipper and crew as well—ay, and the man at the wheel—for she must try to keep the skiffs head to the wind and seas. Only her extraordinary strength enabled her now to unstep the mast, and this with the oars and sail she quickly tied together with some spare rope and the sheet. She worked cautiously, yet with a speed that was wondrous, tying everything securely and with the best of sailor's knots, and finally crawling aft and fastening the boat's painter firmly to the whole as near to the centre of the jib as possible.
Then overboard with a flash went the lashed oars and spar, but not a second too soon. The squall drove down on her with tremendous force, and had the painter snapped nothing could have saved the gipsy lass from a watery grave. But that painter held, and next moment she was crouching in comparative safety between the bows of the Jenny Wren.
There was driving scud and spray, almost whole water at times, and a constant lifting of the after-part of the boat, which seemed to flog the seas with a noise that made Lotty think the timbers were snapping. But as the tiny yacht filled up with water till she was nearly swamped both this movement and the noise became less apparent. Lotty had no intention, however, of letting the Jenny Wren get wholly swamped, so as soon as the first force of the squall had abated a little she set herself to bail the boat. The bailer was semi-shallow and a very useful one. It was lashed so that there could be no danger of losing it.
Both water and wind now were bitterly cold, and the work of bailing put some life in the girl. She did not mind that she was drenched as far as feet and legs went, for she was well used to that, and her body was well protected by a smart oilskin, her head by a natty little sou'-wester tied with a ribbon firmly under her chin. It was the girl's pride to have everything on board the Jenny Wren ship-shape and Bristol fashion. Attached to a girdle round her waist she had even a small compass, and in a waterproof bag lashed under a thwart was a strong electric flashlight. In this bag also were stored provisions and a bottle of milk, to say nothing of a bagful of hazel-nuts and a box of chocolate which Chops had bought her when last at the neighbouring town.
She was thankful that she had not brought Wallace, for he might have got excited and swamped the boat.