Read Online Stuart Little by E. B. White, Garth Williams - Free Book Online Page B

you just
didn’t mention the matter to them. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.
However, you probably understand more about dealing with your father and mother
than I do, so I won’t attempt to instruct you but will leave everything to your
good judgment.
    “Being an outdoors person, I
am camped by the river in an attractive spot at the foot of Tracy’s Lane. Would
you care to go for a paddle with me in my canoe? How about tomorrow afternoon toward
sundown, when the petty annoyances of the day are behind us and the river seems
to flow more quietly in the long shadows of the willows? These tranquil spring
evenings are designed by special architects for the enjoyment of boatmen. I
love the water, dear Miss Ames, and my canoe is like an old and trusted friend.”
Stuart forgot, in the excitement of writing Harriet, that he did not own a
canoe.
    “If you wish to accept my
invitation, be at the river tomorrow about five o’clock. I shall await your arrival
with all the eagerness I can muster. And now I must close this offensive letter
and catch up with my affairs.
    Yours very truly,
    STUART LITTLE.”
     
    After Stuart had sealed his
letter in an envelope, he turned to the storekeeper.
    “Where can I get hold of a
canoe?” he asked.
    “Right here,” replied the
storekeeper. He walked over to his souvenir counter and took down a little
birchbark canoe with the words SUMMER MEMORIES stamped on the side. Stuart examined
it closely.
    “Does she leak?” asked
Stuart.
    “It’s a nice canoe,” replied
the storekeeper, bending it gently back into shape with his fingers. “It will
cost you seventy-five cents plus a penny tax.”
    Stuart took out his money
and paid the man. Then he looked inside the canoe and noticed that there were no
paddles.
    “What about paddles?” he
said, making his voice sound businesslike. The storekeeper hunted around among
the souvenirs but he couldn’t seem to find any paddles, so he went over to the
ice cream counter and came back with two little cardboard spoons—the kind you
use for eating ice cream on picnics.
    “These will work out all
right as paddles,” he said.
    Stuart took the spoons, but
he was disgusted with the looks of them.
    “They may work out all
right,” said Stuart, “but I would hate to meet an American Indian while I had
one of these things in my hand.”
    The storekeeper carried the
canoe and the paddles out in front of the store and set them down in the street.
He wondered what this tiny boatman would do next, but Stuart never hesitated.
Taking a piece of thread from his pocket, he lashed the paddles to the thwarts,
swung the canoe lightly up on his head, and walked off with it as calmly as though
he were a Canadian guide. He was very proud of his ability with boats and he
liked to show off.
    XIV. An Evening on the
River
    When Stuart arrived at his
camp site by the river, he was tired and hot. He put the canoe in the water and
was sorry to see that it leaked badly. The birch bark at the stern was held
together by a lacing, and the water came in through the seam. In a very few
seconds the canoe was half full of water.
    “Darn it!” said Stuart, “I’ve
been swindled.” He had paid seventy-six cents for a genuine Indian birchbark
canoe, only to find that it leaked.
    “Darn, darn, darn,” he
muttered.
    Then he bailed out his canoe
and hauled it up on the beach for repairs. He knew he couldn’t take Harriet out
in a leaky boat—she wouldn’t like it. Tired though he was, he climbed a spruce
tree and found some spruce gum. With this he plugged the seam and stopped the
leak. Even so, the canoe turned out to be a cranky little craft.
    If Stuart had not had plenty
of experience on the water, he would have got into serious trouble with it. It was
a tippy boat even for a souvenir. Stuart carried stones from the beach down to
the water’s edge and ballasted the canoe with the stones until it floated evenly
and steadily. He made a back-rest so that Harriet