"Oh, my goodness me!" exclaimed Polly Pepper, standing quite still. Then she did shock the natives, for she sat right down in the road, with the cheese in her hands.
XIV
THE ISLAND OF MARKEN
When the boat was nearing the island of Marken, the little yellow cheese had been presented with all due formality to one of the sailors who had been specially kind in the matter of securing good seats for Mr. King's party, Polly and Phronsie having held a whispered conference in a retired nook, to come out of it bright and smiling.
"And now it has made two people happy, Phronsie," Polly had said, when the presentation was well over, and she ended up with a kiss. "It made me happy in the first place because you thought of me, and then, just think, Pet, that poor sailor, how glad he will be to take it home."
"Will he, Polly?" asked Phronsie, in a rapture; "and do you think he has got any little girls?"
"Perhaps so," said Polly, "and at any rate, he can eat it himself. And he looks hungry enough."
"I'd rather he had some little girls, Polly," said Phronsie, thoughtfully, "and have him give them each a piece."
"Well, maybe he has some; we'll think so, anyway," Polly answered. "Oh, see, Jasper is calling us."
To be sure, there he was on the other side of the boat nearest Marken, with a big group of passengers, intently watching the Marken children running along in their clacking sabots, on the high bank, and holding out their arms, singing something all the while in a shrill, high key.