"Oh, salt pork, and vegetables, and, oh, all sorts of things that they can"t buy on the island."
"Seafarm Ledge!" she next shouted.
"All of us get out here!" cried Sprite, "because this is the place where the gentlemen sit around and do nothing, while the ladies dress up, and walk, and walk, and walk up and down the board walk."
There must have been a very rough sea, for the hammock rolled and pitched, until it seemed as if the little voyagers would surely be thrown overboard, so violently did the steamer lurch.
The pa.s.sengers were evidently but little frightened. In truth, they appeared to think the trip a huge joke, for they laughed gaily; at last Sprite cried:
"Cliffmore! Cliffmore! Every one get out, because this steamer goes no farther!"
"Is that true, Sprite, that the steamer _Queen of the Ocean_ stops at Cliffmore, and then turns and goes back?"
"Oh, yes," said Sprite. "Some of the boats go farther, but that vessel never does."
"Well, we had a fine trip in our hammock-steamer," said Princess Polly, "and if our vessel did pitch pretty badly, what did we care, while the sky was blue and cloudless overhead?"
"It has been bright and sunny here at Avondale," said Sprite, "and I"ve had a lovely time, and I only long to go home, just because it _is_ home."
"But soon after you go back to Cliffmore, Rose and I will come, and then we three will play together, and play all day, because it will be vacation, no lessons, and no school."
"Mamma is sure that this Summer at Cliffmore is to be delightful,"
said Polly.
"And Uncle John says that there will be lots of good times, but that he knows of one happening that will be a surprise for everyone!" said Rose.
Those who would like to meet Princess Polly again at Avondale, with her dearest friend Rose Atherton, to be with them again at Cliffmore, where they are constantly with little Sprite, may enjoy all their "good-times" in--
"Princess Polly at Play."
END