Sky Island Page 3

  THE MAGIC UMBRELLA

  CHAPTER 2.

  When they reached the neat frame cottage which stood on a high bluff alittle back from the sea and was covered with pretty green vines, awoman came to the door to meet them. She seemed motherly and good andwhen she saw Button-Bright she exclaimed:

  "Goodness me! who's this you've got, Trot?"

  "It's a boy I've just found," explained the girl. "He lives way off inPhillydelphy."

  "Mercy sakes alive!" cried Mrs. Griffith, looking into his upturnedface; "I don't believe he's had a bite to eat since he started. Ain'tyou hungry, child?"

  "Yes," said Button-Bright.

  "Run, Trot, an' get two slices o' bread-an'-butter," commanded Mrs.Griffith. "Cut 'em thick, dear, an' use plenty of butter."

  "Sugar on 'em?" asked Trot, turning to obey.

  "No," said Button-Bright, "just bread-an'-butter's good enough whenyou're hungry, and it takes time to spread sugar on."

  "We'll have supper in an hour," observed Trot's mother, briskly; "but ahungry child can't wait a whole hour, I'm sure. What are you grinningat, Cap'n Bill? How dare you laugh when I'm talking? Stop it thisminute, you old pirate, or I'll know the reason why!"

  "I didn't, mum," said Cap'n Bill, meekly, "I on'y--"

  "Stop right there, sir! How dare you speak when I'm talking?" She turnedto Button-Bright and her tone changed to one of much gentleness as shesaid: "Come in the house, my poor boy, an' rest yourself. You seem tiredout. Here, give me that clumsy umbrella."

  "No, please," said Button-Bright, holding the umbrella tighter.

  "Then put it in the rack behind the door," she urged. The boy seemed alittle frightened.

  "I--I'd rather keep it with me, if you please," he pleaded.

  "Never mind," Cap'n Bill ventured to say, "it won't worry him so much tohold the umbrella, mum, as to let it go. Guess he's afraid he'll loseit, but it ain't any great shakes, to my notion. Why, see here,Butt'n-Bright, we've got half-a-dozen umbrels in the closet that'sbetter ner yours."

  "Perhaps," said the boy. "Yours may look a heap better, sir, but--I'llkeep this one, if you please."

  "Where did you get it?" asked Trot, appearing just then with a plate ofbread-and-butter.

  "It--it belongs in our family," said Button-Bright, beginning to eat andspeaking between bites. "This umbrella has been in our family years, an'years, an' years. But it was tucked away up in our attic an' no one everused it 'cause it wasn't pretty."

  "Don't blame 'em much," remarked Cap'n Bill, gazing at it curiously;"it's a pretty old-lookin' bumbershoot." They were all seated in thevine-shaded porch of the cottage--all but Mrs. Griffith, who had goneinto the kitchen to look after the supper--and Trot was on one side ofthe boy, holding the plate for him, while Cap'n Bill sat on the otherside.

  "It _is_ old," said Button-Bright. "One of my great-great-grandfatherswas a Knight--an Arabian Knight--and it was he who first found thisumbrella."

  "An Arabian Night!" exclaimed Trot; "why, that was a magic night, wasn'tit?"

  "There's diff'rent sorts o' nights, mate," said the sailor, "an' theknight Button-Bright means ain't the same night you mean. Soldiers usedto be called knights, but that were in the dark ages, I guess, an'likely 'nough Butt'n-Bright's great-gran'ther were that sort of aknight."

  "But he said an Arabian Knight," persisted Trot.

  "Well, if he went to Araby, or was born there, he'd be an ArabianKnight, wouldn't he? The lad's gran'ther were prob'ly a furriner, an'yours an' mine were, too, Trot, if you go back far enough; for Amerikywasn't diskivered in them days."

  "There!" said Trot, triumphantly, "didn't I tell you, Button-Bright,that Cap'n Bill knows ever'thing?"

  "He knows a lot, I expect," soberly answered the boy, finishing the lastslice of bread-and-butter and then looking at the empty plate with asigh; "but if he really knows everthing he knows about the MagicUmbrella, so I won't have to tell you anything about it."

  "Magic!" cried Trot, with big, eager eyes; "did you say _Magic_ Umbrel,Button-Bright?"

  "I said 'Magic.' But none of our family knew it was a Magic Umbrellatill I found it out for myself. You're the first people I've told thesecret to," he added, glancing into their faces rather uneasily.

  "Glory me!" exclaimed the girl, clapping her hands in ecstacy; "it mustbe jus' _elegant_ to have a Magic Umbrel!"

  Cap'n Bill coughed. He had a way of coughing when he was suspicious.

  "Magic," he observed gravely, "was once lyin' 'round loose in the world.That was in the Dark Ages, I guess, when the magic Arabian Nights was.But the light o' Civilization has skeered it away long ago, an' magic'sbeen a lost art since long afore you an' I was born, Trot."

  "I know that fairies still live," said Trot, reflectively. She didn'tlike to contradict Cap'n Bill, who knew "ever'thing."

  "So do I," added Button-Bright. "And I know there's magic still in theworld--or in my umbrella, anyhow."

  "Tell us about it!" begged the girl, excitedly.

  "Well," said the boy, "I found it all out by accident. It rained inPhiladelphia for three whole days, and all the umbrellas in our housewere carried out by the family, and lost or mislaid, or something, sothat when I wanted to go to Uncle Bob's house, which is at Germantown,there wasn't an umbrella to be found. My governess wouldn't let me gowithout one, and--"

  "Oh," said Trot; "do you have a governess?"

  "Yes; but I don't like her; she's cross. She said I couldn't go to UncleBob's because I had no umbrella. Instead she told me to go up in theattic and play. I was sorry 'bout that, but I went up in the attic andpretty soon I found in a corner this old umbrella. I didn't care how itlooked. It was whole and strong and big, and would keep me from gettingwet on the way to Uncle Bob's. So off I started for the car, but I foundthe streets awful muddy, and once I stepped in a mud-hole way up to myankle.

  "'Gee!' I said, 'I wish I could fly through the air to Uncle Bob's.'

  "I was holding up the open umbrella when I said that, and as soon as Ispoke, the umbrella began lifting me up into the air. I was awfulscared, at first, but I held on tight to the handle and it didn't pullvery much, either. I was going pretty fast, for when I looked down, allthe big buildings were sliding past me so swift that it made me dizzy,and before I really knew what had happened the umbrella settled down andstood me on my feet at Uncle Bob's front gate.

  "I didn't tell anybody about the wonderful thing that had happened,'cause I thought no one would believe me. Uncle Bob looked sharp at thething an' said: 'Button-Bright, how did your father happen to let youtake that umbrella?' 'He didn't,' I said. 'Father was away at theoffice, so I found it in the attic an' I jus' took it.' Then Uncle Bobshook his head an' said I ought to leave it alone. He said it was afam'ly relic that had been handed down from father to son for manygenerations. But I told him my father had never handed it to me, thoughI'm his son. Uncle Bob said our fam'ly always believed that it brought'em good luck to own this umbrella. He couldn't say why, not knowing itsearly history, but he was afraid that if I lost the umbrella bad luckwould happen to us. So he made me go right home to put the umbrella backwhere I got it. I was sorry Uncle Bob was so cross, and I didn't want togo home yet, where the governess was crosser 'n he was. I wonder whyfolks get cross when it rains? But by that time it had stopped raining,for awhile, anyhow, and Uncle Bob told me to go straight home and putthe umbrella in the attic an' never touch it again.

  "When I was around the corner I thought I'd see if I could fly as I hadbefore. I'd heard of Buffalo, but I didn't know just where it was; so Isaid to the umbrella: 'Take me to Buffalo.'

  "Up in the air I went, just as soon as I said it, and the umbrellasailed so fast that I felt as if I was in a gale of wind. It was a long,long trip, and I got awful tired holding onto the handle, but just as Ithought I'd have to let go I began to drop down slowly, and then I foundmyself in the streets of a big city. I put down the umbrella and askeda man what the name of the city was, and he said 'Buffalo.'"

  "How wonderful!" gasped
Trot. Cap'n Bill kept on smoking and saidnothing.

  "It was magic, I'm sure," said Button-Bright. "It surely couldn't havebeen anything else."

  "P'raps," suggested Trot, "the umbrella can do other magic things."

  "No," said the boy; "I've tried it. When I landed in Buffalo I was hotand thirsty. I had ten cents, car fare, but I was afraid to spend it. SoI held up the umbrella and wished I had an ice-cream soda; but I didn'tget it. Then I wished for a nickel to buy an ice-cream soda with; but Ididn't get that, either. I got frightened and was afraid the umbrelladidn't have any magic left, so to try it I said: 'Take me to Chicago.' Ididn't want to go to Chicago, but that was the first place I thought of,and so I said it. Up again I flew, swifter than a bird, and I soon sawthis was going to be another long journey; so I called out to theumbrella: 'Never mind; stop! I guess I won't go to Chicago. I've changedmy mind, so take me home again.' But the umbrella wouldn't. It keptright on flying and I shut my eyes and held on. At last I landed inChicago, and then I was in a pretty fix. It was nearly dark and I wastoo tired and hungry to make the trip home again. I knew I'd get anawful scolding, too, for running away and taking the family luck withme, so I thought that as long as I was in for it I'd better see a gooddeal of the country while I had the chance. I wouldn't be allowed tocome away again, you know."

  "No, of course not," said Trot.

  "I bought some buns and milk with my ten cents and then I walked aroundthe streets of Chicago for a time and afterward slept on a bench in oneof the parks. In the morning I tried to get the umbrella to give me amagic breakfast, but it won't do anything but fly. I went to a house andasked a woman for something to eat and she gave me all I wanted andadvised me to go straight home before my mother worried about me. Shedidn't know I lived in Philadelphia. That was this morning."

  "This mornin'!" exclaimed Cap'n Bill. "Why, lad, it takes three or fourdays for the railroad trains to get to this coast from Chicago."

  "I know," replied Button-Bright, "but I didn't come on a railroad train.This umbrella goes faster than any train ever did. This morning I flewfrom Chicago to Denver, but no one there would give me any lunch. Apoliceman said he'd put me in jail if he caught me begging, so I gotaway and told the umbrella to take me to the Pacific Ocean. When Istopped I landed over there by the big rock. I shut up the umbrella andsaw a girl sitting on the rock, so I went up and spoke to her. That'sall."

  "Goodness me!" said Trot; "if that isn't a fairy story I never heardone."

  "It _is_ a fairy story," agreed Button-Bright. "Anyhow, it's a magicstory, and the funny part of it is, it's true. I hope you believe me;but I don't know as I'd believe it myself, if it hadn't been me that ithappened to."

  "I believe ev'ry word of it!" declared Trot, earnestly.

  "As fer me," said Cap'n Bill slowly, "I'm goin' to believe it, too,by'm'by, when I've seen the umbrel fly once."

  "You'll see me fly away with it," asserted the boy. "But at present it'spretty late in the day, and Philadelphia is a good way off. Do yous'pose, Trot, your mother would let me stay here all night?"

  "Course she would!" answered Trot. "We've got an extra room with a nicebed in it, and we'd love to have you stay--just as long as you wantto--wouldn't we, Cap'n Bill?"

  "Right you are, mate," replied the old man, nodding his bald head."Whether the umbrel is magic or not, Butt'n-Bright is welcome."

  Mrs. Griffith came out soon after, and seconded the invitation, so theboy felt quite at home in the little cottage. It was not long beforesupper was on the table and in spite of all the bread-and-butter he hadeaten Button-Bright had a fine appetite for the good things Trot'smother had cooked. Mrs. Griffith was very kind to the children, but notquite so agreeable toward poor Cap'n Bill. When the old sailorman atone time spilled some tea on the tablecloth Trot's mother flew angry andgave the culprit such a tongue-lashing that Button-Bright was sorry forhim. But Cap'n Bill was meek and made no reply. "He's used to it, youknow," whispered Trot to her new friend; and, indeed, Cap'n Bill took itall cheerfully and never minded a bit.

  Then it came Trot's turn to get a scolding. When she opened the parcelshe had bought at the village it was found she had selected the wrongcolor of yarn, and Mrs. Griffith was so provoked that Trot's scoldingwas almost as severe as that of Cap'n Bill. Tears came to the littlegirl's eyes, and to comfort her the boy promised to take her to thevillage next morning with his magic umbrella, so she could exchange theyarn for the right color.

  Trot quickly brightened at this promise, although Cap'n Bill lookedgrave and shook his head solemnly. When supper was over and Trot hadhelped with the dishes she joined Button-Bright and the sailorman on thelittle porch again. Dusk had fallen and the moon was just rising. Theyall sat in silence for a time and watched the silver trail that toppedthe crests of the waves far out to sea.

  "Oh, Button-Bright!" cried the little girl, presently; "I'm so gladyou're going to let me fly with you--way to town and back--to-morrow.Won't it be fine, Cap'n Bill?"

  "Dunno, Trot," said he. "I can't figger how both o' you can hold on tothe handle o' that umbrel."

  Trot's face fell.

  "I'll hold on to the handle," said Button-Bright, "and she can hold onto me. It doesn't pull hard at all. You've no idea how easy it is to flythat way--after you get used to it."

  "But Trot ain't used to it," objected the sailor. "If she happened tolose her hold and let go, it's good-bye Trot. I don't like to risk it,for Trot's my chum, an' I can't afford to lose her."

  "Can't you tie us together, then?" asked the boy.

  "We'll see; we'll see," replied Cap'n Bill, and began to think verydeeply. He forgot that he didn't believe the umbrella could fly, andafter Button-Bright and Trot had both gone to bed the old sailor wentout into the shed and worked awhile before he, too, turned into his"bunk." The sandman wasn't around and Cap'n Bill lay awake for hoursthinking of the strange tale of the Magic Umbrella before he finallysank into slumber. Then he dreamed about it, and waking or dreaming hefound the tale hard to believe.