The rest of the party, more or less ill for a time, rallied after the abatement of the storm—all of them but Weezy. When at last able to be carried on deck, she was still pale and languid, and felt rather forlorn.
The rest of the company made every effort to entertain her, but in vain. There were only two people on whom the little maid would condescend to smile. One of these was Miss Evans, who read aloud some of the delightful tales she had written; the other was a young man who never even spoke to the child; but you will hear of him in the following chapter.
CHAPTER VIII
ELEVEN IN FRANCE
Of all the passengers on the ship,—and there were perhaps six hundred,—none interested the boys of The Happy Six like the young man with one leg, who was going to London and Paris to astonish the people by his tricks on a bicycle.
He had a wife, a very pleasant young woman, and Molly and Pauline liked to talk with her. She told them she was in the habit of riding on her own wheel, ahead of her husband, and throwing balls in the air for him to fire at as he followed her; and he never failed to hit the balls.
“How wonderful!” cried Pauline.
“Yes,” returned the wife proudly; “but really not so wonderful as his spinning his wheel down a toboggan slide. That is something that has never yet been done by any man with two legs.”
“Oh, I should hope not,” said Molly; “it makes me shudder to think of it.”
“Look, look,” cried Pauline; “see what he is doing now!”
Some one was playing the fiddle, and this extraordinary young man was actually dancing in perfect time with one foot. He was laughing, too, and seemed to enjoy the performance as much as any one else.