Puss Junior and Robinson Crusoe Part 15

cried Robinson Crusoe, "for I've hardly spoken to a soul for many years.

I've forgotten how a voice sounds."

So they all began to talk and laugh and to tell all sorts of jokes and riddles until it began to grow dark. Then Robinson Crusoe jumped up and said, "Come and watch me get supper, for I am Lord and Chief Cook of Crusoe Castle."

FRIDAY

PUSS, JUNIOR, and Tom Thumb enjoyed their supper at Crusoe Castle better than any meal they ever had. "Even when I visited the Man in the Moon, the cheese wasn't as good as this," said Puss.

"Glad you like it," said Mr. Crusoe, "I made it myself from goat's milk.

I have some fine goats, let me tell you. I made me this coat from an old Nanny goat. Do you wonder how Crusoe could do so?"

"Well, I suppose there are no tailors on Crusoe Island," said Tom Thumb.

"I've never met any," replied Mr. Crusoe with a laugh. "I've never met anybody so far except goats and kids, parrots and monkeys, ducks and drakes, snakes and lizards."

"Where did you get Snoozer and Caromel and Caroline?" asked Puss.

"They came off the s.h.i.+p with me when it was wrecked," said Mr. Crusoe.

"That is, I brought them off the next day when I went out on the raft to the wreck. And they've been with me ever since."

"Oh, by the way," Puss, Junior, suddenly exclaimed. "Is Friday here?"

"Oh, yes," cried Tom Thumb, "where is Friday?"

Mr. Crusoe got up and walked over to a tall pole and looked over carefully the notches cut into the wood. "Let me see," he said. "To-day is Thursday. Yes, that's right; Friday will be here to-morrow."

"You've made a mistake, Mr. Crusoe," said Puss, with a laugh.

"Have I," he replied, looking over his wooden calendar carefully a second time.

"I don't mean the day," said Puss. "I mean your man Friday."

"Oh, you mean my black man Friday," said Mr. Crusoe. "Oh, I gave him a holiday. He'll be here to-morrow."

"I'm very anxious to see him," said Tom Thumb.

"He'll be surprised when he sees you, too," said Mr. Crusoe, with a grin. "He's never seen a white man but me."

By this time it was quite dark, so Mr. Crusoe lighted some very nice home-made candles and stuck them here and there in the cave. They gave a very soft light. The waves on the beach murmured gently, and pretty soon Snoozer was snoring and Caromel and Caroline were fast asleep on an old sack in a corner.

"Let us turn in," said Mr. Crusoe, showing Puss and Tom a very comfortable hammock. In a short time everybody was sound asleep and snoring away in Crusoe Cave.

SUPPOSING

THE loud ringing of a bell awoke everyone in Crusoe Castle. Puss, Junior, jumped out of his hammock and little Tom Thumb yawned and asked in a sleepy voice, "Who's ringing the door-bell?" Then Mr. Crusoe picked up the ladder and went outside and, placing it against the fence, climbed up to the top, and after that he pulled up the ladder and then let it down on the outside. All this time Snoozer stood below wagging his tail, while Mr. Crusoe's two cats, Caromel and Caroline, purred and rubbed against the calendar pole. Pretty soon a curly-headed black face appeared above the wall.

"Black man Friday," whispered Tom Thumb.

"Bow-wow!" yelped Snoozer, and in a few minutes Mr. Crusoe and his man Friday climbed down the ladder.

"This is my good man Friday," said Mr. Crusoe. So Puss and Tom Thumb shook hands with him, which seemed to please him immensely.

"Glum-glum. Blum-blum!" he cried, smiling and showing a row of very white teeth.

"That's 'Howdy! Pleased to meet you,' in his language," said Mr. Crusoe.

"He can talk very little English yet. I've had little time to devote to his education so far."

"But who rang the bell?" asked Puss, Junior.

"Why, Friday did, of course," replied Mr. Crusoe. "Come over here and I'll show you," and he led Puss to the rear of the cave.

"I brought this bell from the wreck," explained Mr. Crusoe. "After Friday came to me I tied a rope to it. At the other end of the rope I fastened a door-k.n.o.b. When I go out Friday usually stays in. And when I ring the bell he lets down the ladder to me. And when he's out he rings the bell, just as he did this morning, and I let the ladder down to him."

"What do you do when both of you go out?" asked Puss. "Does Snoozer attend to the ladder?"

"No, no," replied Mr. Crusoe. "We hide the ladder in the woods nearby.

Then when we come back we get it out and stand it up against the wall and climb up."

"Supposing someone should come across the ladder and make a call while you're out?" asked Tom Thumb.

"Well, I don't know whether they'd think of that if they just happened to find the ladder," answered Mr. Crusoe.

"Well, supposing they did," said Tom Thumb.

"Caesar's Ghost!" cried Mr. Crusoe. "Suppose we don't do any more supposing! I've been so long alone that I've forgotten how to play that game. Let's all go down to the beach and get some fresh soft clams for breakfast. Start the water boiling, Friday, we're going to have steamed clams for breakfast." And then Mr. Crusoe climbed up the ladder, with Puss and Tom Thumb close at his heels.

THREE MEN IN A TUB

ON reaching the seash.o.r.e, Robinson Crusoe raised a spy gla.s.s to his eyes and looked carefully over the water. And then all of a sudden he lowered the gla.s.s and whispered: "The cannibals are coming! We must go back to my fort at once."

"Do they eat cats?" asked Puss, Junior.

"I don't know," replied Mr. Crusoe. "You see, I've never met a cannibal; in fact, I've always held aloof from them."

Crusoe's man Friday was nearly frightened to death. He was as pale as a black ghost, which is pretty white for a negro.

Once inside the fort, Mr. Crusoe again took a look at the cannibals.