CHAPTER II
NUTS IN MAY
Baby Jane was slowly waking up, with the gentle morning sun shining onher face.
'What is this silky, furry thing under my head?' she murmured toherself. And then it all came back to her.
'Oh yes, of course,' said she. 'I've come out to the African Desert toteach the poor dear creatures nice things to do, instead of fighting andhowling and killing one another. And I've been asleep with my head uponmy dear, naughty old Bear, with all my animals and the Piccaninny roundme. And yesterday I gave them a dancing lesson.
'There now, dears,' she said, sitting up and nodding wisely at thegently snoring circle, 'wasn't it nicer to sleep properly through thenight by me, after being tired out with playing, than to wander andhowl and be wicked in the dreadful woods and the lonely desert?'
Her little speech waked them, and they sat up and rubbed their eyes andsmiled sleepily at her.
'Now,' said Baby Jane briskly, 'we'll go and wash our faces in theriver.'
Her pupils, except the Crocodile, who tried to look as if she were verybrave in obeying, all made excuses, but Baby Jane was firm, and therewas soon a great spluttering and screwing up of eyes, and they becamevery lank and dank and shiny.
Then came breakfast under a spreading palm--a fine breakfast. There wasbread-fruit--which always grows ready toasted in this part of the worldbecause of the heat of the sun--and butter-nuts and cocoa-nuts withfresh milk in them; and any one who knew more of these wonderful Africanplants would probably tell you of the shrimp shrubs, and of thewhiting-fried-in-egg-and-breadcrumbs-with-their-tails-in-their-mouthsbushes.
'Do you know,' said Baby Jane confidentially when they had finished, 'it_is_ nice that I'm going to teach you something that is great fun thissunshiny morning, instead of being taught myself in a stuffyschool-room--and perhaps put in the corner.'
At this point she grew red, and looked round to see if they lookedshocked, but they were all grinning affectionately. A great reformerloses nothing by little admissions like this.
'Come along, now,' said she; 'I'll teach you some games on this smoothpatch.'
The animals and the Piccaninny all frisked around in high excitement.
'First we'll play blindfold "Cat and Mouse,"' said Baby Jane, after amoment's thought. 'Lion, you are "mouse," and, Rabbit, you are "cat."Now I want two handkerchiefs.'
The Bear retired and came back with a large spotted handkerchief. Thistime Baby Jane did not ask how he got it--she only sighed.
It was old, so they tore it in half, and, having blindfolded the Lionand the Rabbit, they spun them round three times and then kept veryquiet to watch the fun.
The Lion was dreadfully nervous at first and crept about on tiptoe, andlistened quaking to the sound of the Rabbit as he scuffled aroundsnorting fiercely and making savage grabs at the air. Once they bumpedtheir heads together, but, with an ear-splitting yell of terror, theLion bounded away before the Rabbit could grip him.
By-and-bye the Rabbit, having run up against Baby Jane, whispered toher, 'I reckon he's gone up a tree; I'll go after him.'
Then he felt about till he came to the stem of a palm, and up he went,hand-over-hand.
In a little while the Lion, who was still tiptoeing about on the ground,also ran up against Baby Jane, and said in a quavering whisper, 'Ireckon it's not safe down here; I'm going up a tree.' And he felt abouttill he came to the very tree up which the Rabbit, or, I should say, the'cat,' had just climbed, and up he went.
The Rabbit had reached the top, and was meditating on the ease withwhich we deceive ourselves, when he heard a scratching sound below him,and pricked up his ears. Nearer and nearer came the sound.
'Sure enough,' said he, 'it's that "mouse" coming up after me,' and witha triumphant squeak--'Caught!'--he let go with his four little paws, anddown he dropped plump on the Lion's head.
The Lion shrieked aloud with terror and dismay, and fell heavily to theground; and there he lay with the Rabbit sitting smiling on top of him.
Down he dropped plump on the Lion's head.]
Then the others tried their hands at being 'cat' and 'mouse,' until thewhole party was weak with laughing.
'Now we'll have a three-legged race,' said Baby Jane when they had atlast subsided into giggles. 'It is rather a boys' game, but I'm onlygoing to do it to teach you.'
Baby Jane and the Piccaninny.]
There were three couples--the Lion and the Rabbit, the Bear and theCrocodile, and Baby Jane and the Piccaninny.
The Bear and the Crocodile made a splendid race with Baby Jane'scouple. The Bear took tiny steps to suit the shortness of theCrocodile's legs, and their feet pattered as fast as a fly flaps itswings; but the children won by two yards.
As for the Lion and the Rabbit, they sat down to quarrel half-way, theRabbit recommending big kangaroo-like bounds, while the Lion was forhopping on the joint leg.
After this came a game of 'Gathering Nuts in May,' and the creaturesnearly went wild with excitement.
It is to be feared that they were so anxious for their side to win thatthey did things that were not quite honest.
Now, Baby Jane had decided that the Rabbit and the Piccaninny mightalways pull together, being each so small.
On a certain occasion her side had declared in song that they would
'Have Miss Crocodile for Nuts in May, Nuts in May, Nuts in May';
and also that they would
'Send Bunny and the Piccaninny to fetch her away, Fetch her away, fetch her away.'
Then that little couple went out, and the Rabbit, having caught theCrocodile's hand, and the Piccaninny having gripped the Rabbit's littletail, they tugged and they tugged for the honour of their side to pullMiss Crocodile over the line, until their little hearts nearly burst andthe Rabbit's tail nearly came off.
She had anchored the end of her tail to a stout young palm tree.]
And all the while Miss Crocodile calmly sat and smiled, and neverbudged.
Why? Because she had anchored the end of her tail to a stout young palmtree, and it would have needed a steam-engine to 'gather' her.
Even after this, the creatures were eager for more, and Baby Janethought of 'Hide-and-Seek.'
She would go and hide, and they would sit in a row with their eyes tightshut while they counted sixty.
She ran off as fast as she could over a little hillock, so that theanimals could no longer see her, even if they were unfair enough to opentheir eyes, and towards a clump of trees that looked like a capitalhiding-place.
She little thought into what terrible danger she was running.
On she went till she had reached the corner of the little wood. There,behind it, she saw with startled eyes a horde of mounted Cannibals lyingin wait.
For the first moment she thought she could dart back behind the trees,but no, they had caught sight of her, and with a horrible sound ofsmacking of lips the cloud of Light-Horsemen swept towards her. Shenoticed that they had only one Horse, but he was densely crowded with avillainous crew of blacks, and then, as they rushed upon her brandishingtheir spear, she clasped her hand over her eyes.
The next moment she was seized roughly and swung high into the air andon to the shoulder of a Cannibal, and then she felt the Horse turn andgallop madly--as madly as could be expected of an animal soovercrowded--across the desert, and away from her dear creatures stillsitting in a row with their eyes tight shut behind the hillock. Oh, itwas dreadful! Her plan had just begun to succeed, and her animals weregrowing more and more kind and happy, and now it was all over.
Poor Crocodile and Lion, they would miss her dreadfully and have nothingto do but go back to the old, bad, miserable ways. Poor dear old Bear,he would cry. And here Baby Jane herself began to cry loudly,hopelessly.
After a while she tried to stifle her sobs and to speak coaxingly to theNigger who carried her, but he took no notice.
There was evidently no hope, and she began to think whether she wouldrather be a cu
tlet dressed in egg and bread-crumbs with little paperfrills round her ankles and wrists--or soup.
Suddenly she heard a faint sound more beautiful to her than the silvermusic of fairy bells. It was the roar of a Lion.
Ah, there they were! Over a sandy wave they came flying in pursuit. TheLion, ridden by the Piccaninny, sped across the desert with huge bounds,and dust and stones shot up wherever his flying feet struck the sand;away to the right, with his head and tail up, the Crocodile wasbouncing bravely along, the Rabbit, who rode her, bumping sky-high; andclose behind the Lion strode the Bear, leaping bushes and bamboos as ifhe were running a hurdle-race.
They came flying in pursuit.]
The Light-Horsemen heard the sound of galloping feet behind them, andthe rear-guard, turning his head, gave a howl of horror. The tables wereturned; instead of lunching on Baby Jane, they themselves would nowadorn the festive board. Wildly they thrashed the Light-Horse, but itwas of no use, the galloping Lion was close upon their heels.
Then, as the sledge traveller throws out his companions one by one tothe pursuing wolves, the Light-Horsemen began by throwing out Baby Jane.
In a moment she felt herself whisked into the furry arms of the Bear,and nursed and petted as gently as if it had been by Nurse herself.
When she felt better and looked round, the Cannibal Light-Horsemen haddisappeared, and the Light-Horse was sitting on a stone fanning herselfwith a palm-leaf. As the Crocodile and the Lion, both looking quiet andsleepy, came up to inquire if Baby Jane was unhurt, the Bear, who wasrocking her to and fro, whispered bitterly to them, 'Well, you _are_pigs. You might have left me a _little_ one.'
It was a long time before Baby Jane had any heart to play again. It wasso nice to shut her eyes and sniff away the last trace of tears, lyingcontentedly against the silky coat of the old Bear.
But after a while she began to brighten up and to make friends with theLight-Horse, who was a nice animal, though she wore such a drearyexpression.
'I daresay you are tired,' she said kindly; 'so I will tell you what wewill do next. We will make a "Tableau Vivant." We shall only have tostay still in that.'
The creatures all were delighted with the idea, and the Bear retiredonce more to his treasure-store for odds and ends of clothes to dress upin.
'The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots' was the subject chosen, and itwas a dreadfully real and touching picture that they made.
The Bear was Queen Mary; his sweet, sad, resigned air, and his littlelace handkerchief, wet with tears, would have moved any heart less stonythan Queen Elizabeth's, but she sat in the background and smiledtriumphantly.
The Crocodile was Queen Elizabeth--chosen for the part because her mouthwas best for smiling.
The Rabbit, with his head tucked in and his legs out stiff, was theblock, and the Piccaninny the executioner, with a horrid scowl and alarge axe. Behind the Queen came her weeping ladies, the 'Queen'sMaries.' Baby Jane, the Lion, and the Light-Horse were all 'Queen'sMaries.' The Lion looked especially well with his mane done up in achignon. He said he was Mary Beaton, and the Light-Horse was MaryCarmichael.
It was not till they had posed stiffly for a quarter of an hour thatthey remembered that there was no audience to tell them by the clappingof hands when it had had enough.
'Next time,' said the sharp Rabbit, 'we'll get a lot of tortoises andturn them on their backs so that they can't run away, and make them lookon and clap.'
'But they will see everything upside down,' said the Lion.
'And we'll have to act on our heads to make it right,' said theLight-Horse gloomily.
'Oh, we won't bother about that,' said the inventor of the plan. 'Theywill be there just to clap, and they won't be turned right side up untilthey do clap.'
And this was the end of Baby Jane's lessons for that day.
Baby Jane's Mission Page 4
