Mary Poppins in the Park Read Free Page B

said to the Ass, as he took a juicy bite. "I'd offer you half—but you don't need it. You've all this buttercup field."
    The Ass surveyed the scene with distaste. "It may be all very well for donkeys, but don't imagine," he remarked, "that I'm such an ass as I look. As you may be interested to know, I'm an Arab steed in disguise!"
    "Indeed?" The Tramp looked very impressed. "How you must long, if that is so, for the country of your birth. Sandstorms! Mirages! Waterless deserts!"
    "Waterless?" The Ass looked anxious.
    "Well, practically. But that's nothing to you. The way you Arab animals can live for weeks on nothing—nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nowhere to sleep—it's wonderful!"
    "But what about all those oases? Surely grass grows there?"
    "Few and far between," said the Tramp. "But what of that, my friend? The less you eat the faster you go! The less you drink the lighter you are! It only takes you half a jiffy to fling yourself down and shelter your master when his enemies attack!"
    "But," cried the Ass, "in that case, I should be shot at first!"
    "Naturally," the Tramp replied. "That's why one admires you so—you noble Arab steeds. You're ready to die at any moment!"
    The Ass rubbed his forehead against his leg. Was he ready to die at any moment? He could not honestly answer Yes. Weeks and weeks with nothing to eat! And here the buttercups and daisies were enough for a dozen asses. He might indeed be an Arab steed—but then again, he mightn't. Up and down went his shaggy head as he pondered the difficult problem.
    "That's for you, old Natterjack!" The Tramp tossed the core of his apple under the steppingstone.
    "Don't call me Natterjack!" snapped the Toad.
    "Puddocky, then, if you prefer it!"
    "Those are the names one gives to toads. I am a frog in disguise."
    "Oh, happy creature!" the Tramp exclaimed. "Sitting on lily-leaves all night, singing a song to the moon."
    "All night? I'd take my death of cold!"
    "Catching spiders and dragonflies for the lady-frog of your choice!"
    "None for myself?" the Toad enquired.
    "A frog that would a-wooing go—and you are certainly such a one!—wouldn't want to catch for himself!"
    The Toad was, however, not so sure. He liked a juicy spider. He was just deciding, after all, that he might as well be a toad, when—plop!—went a pebble right beside him and he hurriedly popped in his head.
    "Who threw that?" said the Tramp quickly.
    "I did," came the answer from the bridge. "Not to hit him! Just to make him jump!"
    "Good boy!" The Tramp looked up with a smile. "A fine, friendly lad like you wouldn't hurt a toad!"
    "Of course I wouldn't. Or anything else. But don't you call me boy or lad. I'm really a——"
    "Wait! Don't tell me! Let me guess! An Indian? No—a pirate!"
    "That's right!" said the Boy, with a curt nod, showing all the gaps in his teeth in a terrible pirate smile. "If you want to know my name," he snarled, "just call me One-eyed Corambo!"
    "Got your cutlass?" the Tramp enquired. "Your skull-and-crossbones? Your black silk mask? Well, I shouldn't hang about here any longer! Landlubbers aren't worth robbing! Set your course away from the North. Make for Tierra del Fuego."
    "Been there," the Boy said loftily.
    "Well, any other place you like—no pirate lingers long on land. Have you been——" the Tramp lowered his voice, "have you been to
Dead Man's Drop?
"
    The Boy smiled and shook his head.
    "That's the place for me," he cried, reaching for his Monkey. "I'll just go and say good-bye to my mother and——"
    "Your mother! Did I hear aright? One-eyed Corambo hopping off to say good-bye to his mother! A pirate captain wasting time by running home—well, really!" The Tramp was overcome with amusement.
    The Boy looked at him doubtfully. Where, he wondered,
was
Dead Man's Drop? How long would it take him to go and come? His mother would be anxious. And apart from that—as he'd reason to know—she was making pancakes for supper. It might be better, just for today,