The Runaway Settlers Read Free Page B

was a prophecy. From behind a stump overgrown with creepers appeared a familiar figure. He stood beside the smallest donkey, a white one, stroking it and talking softly.Soon he had it walking quietly. Bill and Jack, moving closer, heard Archie say:
    ‘Where d’you want them to go, mister?’
    The man in the striped jersey swung around.
    ‘Who in tarnation are you?’
    Archie grinned shyly, not knowing what to say. ‘You meddling lamb of Satan!’ shouted the man. ‘Aren’t donkeys devils enough!’ Archie’s grin vanished but he went on stroking the donkey. The man in the sea-jacket stepped in.
    ‘Whisht, Rabbie! Dinna curse at the lad; we could mebbe let him show what he can dae! Try if ye can move her doon the street there, laddie.’
    ‘Bill,’ whispered Jack, ‘this looks like fun! Let’s go too.’
    Bill nodded. ‘There might be a shilling for us. But take off that sling—it doesn’t look right.’
    Jack winced as the arm swung free and dragged at his bruised shoulder, but he said nothing except a quick, ‘We’ll help, mister, we’re his brothers,’ without waiting for an answer. Soon a little procession was moving down the hill. Even the stubborn grey donkey, with the two men urging him, followed on.
    ‘Where d’you want them to go?’ called Archie.
    ‘To the wharves,’ answered the man in the striped jersey.
    The wharves! With wild excitement leaping inside him, Jack cut in: ‘Are they to go on a ship?’ and Bill and Archie held their breath for the answer.
    ‘Yes, a ship. Pedigree stock they are—special purchase—for the Armenian.’
    ‘The Armenian!’ The boys had not tramped the wharves for nothing. ‘We’ve seen her—she’s a capital ship—with engines!’
    ‘Aye,’ said the man in the sea-jacket, ‘but we maun get the beasties aboard, afore those engines’ll be any use at all!’
    A bold thought began to grow in Jack’s mind.
    Stockmen! They might need stockmen on the ship! The Armenian lay alongside the wharf, not at anchor in the harbour as the bigger sailing-ships usually did, because she had this very modern feature: an engine, sixty horsepower, no less! She was square-rigged too, and the wind would carry her much faster than her screws, but the engine made her more easily handled in harbour and for this reason she was given the proud title of steamship. She was well-appointed too, with fine cabins for the gentlemen and ladies, who were all on shore somewhere until near the time for sailing.
    Obediently, with Archie and his white donkey still in the lead, the animals went up the gangway and into the pen on the deck. There were large stalls, too, in readiness for larger animals—horses.
    And now Robbie and his Scotch companion, whose name was Dugald, found that it was not enough to offer the boys a shilling for their trouble. They all said no—that this was not what they wanted.
    ‘What would ye be wanting then?’ asked Dugald.
    ‘To look after the donkeys on the voyage,’ said Bill calmly.
    The two men looked at one another as if they didn’t know whether to laugh or not, and the big man winked.
    ‘Oh! Ye’ll be running away then, will ye?’
    ‘That’s right.’
    ‘And the wee laddie too?’
    ‘I’m not wee. I’m nine,’ said Archie. Dugald ignored him. ‘And yer mither and yer sister, I don’t doot,’ said the sailor sarcastically.
    ‘Two sisters—’ Jack could not help grinning. ‘And Jim!’ shouted all three boys together.
    The gentle rolling of the ship seemed to break into a mad rocking with their burst of laughter. When at last they recovered, Dugald said:
    ‘Would that be the lot noo? Ye havena’ a father, maybe?’
    ‘No, mister. We haven’t any father,’ said Bill.
    ‘Our mother’s a widow. We have to look after her,’ Jack added quickly, thinking this might help. Dugald was at once sympathetic.
    ‘Ah, puir laddies! But will ye no be scared to travel on a ship with Indians?’
    ‘Indians!’ They had no idea what an Indian