United States or Italy ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Poor old Eeny-Meeny," said Katherine, "she seems born to be rescued. She must bear a charmed life. It's a case of 'Sing Au Revoir but not Good-bye' when she goes to meet a tragic fate." She dried Eeny-Meeny off with bunches of grass and stood her up against a tree to guard their "boudoir" for the night.
Then she covered Eeny-Meeny carefully with the blanket so that only her outline showed and returned to the fire, which Slim was rapidly reducing to the proportions of a "kettle boiler." "Don't you think," said Slim, as she came up, "that Eeny-Meeny would like some fudge when she wakes up? There's nothing like fudge to restore you after you've been drowned."
Don't you want to take her home with you, Katherine, for a good luck omen? She seems to bring good fortune to whoever has her. And she'll keep you from getting lonely." So it was decided that Eeny-Meeny was to go home with Katherine to Spencer, Arkansas, "to live with her and be her love," as Katherine poetically expressed it.
Not a word to the girl about this, you understand, there's nothing certain about it." Then Antha's voice was heard calling for her father and away he went, leaving Mr. Evans and Uncle Teddy staring breathless after the man who proposed to revive dead ventures as casually as if he were talking about putting up screens. "What are we going to do with Eeny-Meeny when we go home?" asked Gladys.
As Sahwah had overheard the plot, a large fire was to be built on the beach that night and then at a signal Eeny-Meeny was to be flung into it from above. "We'll get her first, never fear," said Katherine with a warlike gesture. At times like this she became a creature inspired. Her hair bristled up, her eyes shone, her husky voice gained strength until it rang like a trumpet.
Anyone hearing her would have thought she was speaking on a matter of life and death, so eloquent did she wax and so emphatic were her gestures, as she bade them rise up and rescue Eeny-Meeny at the last minute. "Not a word to any of them until we are ready to pour the water down into the fire," cautioned Katherine, after she had outlined her plans for rescue.
"What's the matter?" shouted Uncle Teddy, looking back in alarm. "We've lost Eeny-Meeny!" screeched Katherine. A roar of laughter went up from all the canoes, as the occupants, carefully turning their heads so as not to disturb the balance of their frail barks, caught sight of that runaway canoe with the imploring arm visible over the side.
"And I think it would be the best joke in the world to 'plant' Eeny-Meeny at the base of the rock. Some time or other that land will be sold, and I will see to it that hints are dropped to whoever buys it that there are Indian relics on the premises and they are invariably found at the bases of marked rocks. That's the best joke I've heard in years. Katherine, you're a genius.
That was a question nobody was prepared to answer offhand. "Take her home and put her in the House of the Open Door," said Sahwah. "But hardly any of us will be there to see her," objected Hinpoha, "and, anyway, it's cruelty to dumb Indians to take them away from their native woods and shut them up in houses. I know Eeny-Meeny wouldn't be happy there.
Utterly crushed, she returned to the girls and spread the news that Eeny-Meeny had disappeared into the hands of the Dark of the Moon Society. The Winnebagos were sunk in despair, but were rallied by Katherine's oratory.
Word Of The Day