"O, have you?" said Dotty, in a tone of the deepest respect.
"Yes; then there is the _mina_, a brown bird, larger than a crow; converses quite fluently. You have heard of a mina, I dare say."
Dotty shook her head in despair. She was so overwhelmed by this time, that, if Adolphus had told of going with Captain Lally to the moon in a balloon, she would not have been greatly surprised.
A humorous smile played around the boy"s mouth. Observing his little companion"s extreme simplicity, he was tempted to invent some marvellous stories for the sake of seeing her eyes shine.
"I can explain it to her afterwards," said he to his conscience.
"Did you ever hear of the Great Dipper, Dotty?"
"I don"t know"s I did. No."
"You don"t say so! Never heard of the Great Dipper! Your sister Prudy has, I"m sure. It is tied to the north pole, and you can dip water with it."
"Is it big?"
"No, not very. About the size of a tub."
"A dipper as big as a tub?" repeated Dotty, slowly.
"Yes, with the longest kind of handle."
"I couldn"t lift it?"
"No, I should judge not."
"Who tied it to the north pole?"
"I don"t know. Columbus, perhaps. You remember he discovered the world?"
Dotty brightened.
"O, yes, I"ve heard about that! Susy read it in a book."
"Well, I"ll tell you how it was. There had been a world, you see; but people had lost the run of it, and didn"t know where it was, after the flood. And then Columbus went in a ship and discovered it."
"He did?"
Dotty looked keenly at the captain"s son. He was certainly in earnest; but there was something about it she did not exactly understand.
"Why, if there wasn"t any world all the time, where did _C"lumbus_ come from?" faltered she, at last.
"It is not generally known," replied Adolphus, taking off his hat, and hiding his face in it.
Dolly sat for some time lost in thought.
"O, I forgot to say," resumed Adolphus, "the north pole isn"t driven in so hard as it ought to be. It is so cold up there that the frost "heaves" it. You know what "heaves" means? The ground freezes and then thaws, and that loosens the pole. Somebody has to pound it down, and that makes the noise we call thunder."
Dotty said nothing to this; but her youthful face expressed surprise, largely mingled with doubt.
"You have heard of the _axes_ of the earth? That is what they pound the pole with. Queer--isn"t it? But not so queer to me as the Red Sea."
Adolphus paused, expecting to be questioned; but Dotty maintained a discreet silence.
"The water is a very bright red, I know; but I never _could_ believe that story about the giant"s having the nose-bleed, and coloring the whole sea with blood. Did you ever hear of that?"
"No, I never," replied Dotty, gravely. "You needn"t tell it, Dollyphus.
I"m too tired to talk."
Adolphus felt rather piqued as the little girl turned away her head and steadily gazed out of the window at the trees and houses flying by. It appeared very much as if she suspected he had been making sport of her.
"She isn"t a perfect ignoramus, after all." he thought; "that last lie was a little too big."
After this he sat for some time watching his little companion, anxious for an opportunity to a.s.sure her that these absurd stories had been spun out of his own brain. But Dotty never once turned her face towards him.
She was thinking,--
"P"rhaps he"s a good boy; p"rhaps he"s a naughty boy: but I shan"t believe him till I ask my father."
At Portsmouth, Captain Lally and son left the cars, much to Dotty"s relief, though they did carry away the beautiful Spanish rabbit; and it seemed to the child as if a piece of her heart went with it.
"Is my little girl tired?" said Mr. Parlin, putting an arm around Dotty.
"No, papa, only I"m thinking. The north pole is top of the world--isn"
it? As much as five hundred miles off?"
"A great deal farther than that, my dear."
"There, I thought so! And we couldn"t hear "em pound it down with an axe--could we? That isn"t what makes thunder? O, what a boy!"
Mr. Parlin laughed heartily.
"Did Adolphus tell you such a story as that?"
"Yes, sir, he did," cried Dotty, indignantly, "and said there was a dipper to it, with a handle on, as large as a tub. And a man tied it that came from I-don"t-know-where, and found this world. I know _that_ wasn"t true, for he didn"t say anything about Adam and Eve. What an awful boy!"
"What did you say to Adolphus?" said Mr. Parlin, still laughing. "Hadn"t you been putting on airs? And wasn"t that the reason he made sport of you?"
"I don"t know what "airs" are, papa."
"Perhaps you told him, for instance, that you were travelling out West, and asked him if _he_ ever went so far as that."
"Perhaps I did," stammered Dotty.
"And it is very likely you made the remark that you had the whole care of yourself, and know how to part your hair in the middle. I did not listen; but it is possible you told him you could play on the piano."
Dotty looked quite ashamed.
"This is what we call "putting on airs." Adolphus was at first rather quiet and unpretending. Didn"t you think he might be a little stupid?