THE CASTING AWAY OF MRS. LECKS AND MRS. ALESHINE

PART I PAGE

THESE TWO WORTHY DAMES SPENT THE GREATER PART
OF THEIR TIME ON DECK _Frontispiece_

DO YOU SEE THAT BOAT THERE? 6

MRS. ALESHINE PROVED TO BE A MORE DIFFICULT SUBJECT 11

WE WILL PULL AFTER THEM 15

STAND UP STRAIGHT, AND DON'T TALK SO MUCH 23

VIGOROUSLY WINKING AND BLOWING 25

THEY GOT ON REMARKABLY WELL 27

THERE'S NOTHIN' LIKE SAUSAGES FOR SHIPWRECK 31


PART II

MRS. LECKS WALKED BOLDLY UP TO THE FRONT DOOR
AND PLIED THE KNOCKER 45

I CLIMBED UP ONE OF THE COLUMNS 48

I GUESS YOU'LL BE COMFORTABLE, MR. CRAIG 52

THAT YELLER FROCK 55

MRS. ALESHINE HAD BEEN HARD AT WORK ALL THE
MORNING 61

"THERE'S ANOTHER THING," SAID SHE, "THAT I'VE
BEEN THINKIN' ABOUT" 67

MRS. LECKS AND MRS. ALESHINE STANDING ON THE END
OF THE LITTLE WHARF 72


PART III

MR. ENDERTON WAS A PERSON OF ANOTHER SORT 83

I DID ALL THAT I COULD TO MAKE MISS RUTH'S TIME
PASS AGREEABLY 87

THEY WERE EVIDENTLY WAITING FOR ME 91

SMOKING THEIR PIPES IN PEACE 99

IT WAS PERFECTLY SAFE 102

I KNOWED IT WAS ALL RIGHT 105

THEY ASSISTED RUTH TO ARRAY HERSELF 111


PART IV

THE ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN WAS SLOW AND TEDIOUS 121

"WHAT HAS HAPPENED?" I EXCLAIMED 123

MRS. LECKS WAS SITTING ON A STONE 129

I SOON HAD A CRACKLING FIRE 135

COULD YOU LEND ME A SMALL IRON POT? 141

WE WERE ABOUT TO SEND HIM A BASKET 150, 151


PART V

WE BEGAN TO SLIDE DOWNWARD 163

OH, WHICH IS EMILY, AND WHICH IS LUCILLE? 167

WE DREW UP ABOUT THE FIRE 174

REVEALING THE FAMILIAR FAT LITTLE GINGER-JAR 186

RUTH AND MISS LUCILLE STRUCK UP A WARM ACQUAINTANCE 191


PART VI

THE IMPIDENCE OF HIM! 204

ELIZABETH GROOTENHEIMER 215

"YOU MAN!" SHRIEKED MRS. LECKS 218

HE RESPECTFULLY TOUCHED IT WITH HIS LIPS 227

THE GREATEST WORK OF DECORATION WAS RESERVED
BY THE RED-BEARDED COXSWAIN FOR HIMSELF 231

[Illustration]




THE CASTING AWAY OF MRS. LECKS AND MRS. ALESHINE




THE CASTING AWAY OF MRS. LECKS AND MRS. ALESHINE

PART I

[Illustration]


I was on my way from San Francisco to Yokohama, when in a very desultory
and gradual manner I became acquainted with Mrs. Lecks and Mrs.
Aleshine. The steamer, on which I was making a moderately rapid passage
toward the land of the legended fan and the lacquered box, carried a
fair complement of passengers, most of whom were Americans; and, among
these, my attention was attracted from the very first day of the voyage
to two middle-aged women who appeared to me very unlike the ordinary
traveler or tourist. At first sight they might have been taken for
farmers' wives who, for some unusual reason, had determined to make a
voyage across the Pacific; but, on closer observation, one would have
been more apt to suppose that they belonged to the families of
prosperous tradesmen in some little country town, where, besides the
arts of rural housewifery, there would be opportunities of becoming
acquainted in some degree with the ways and manners of the outside
world.