while the teenie weenies were searching along the creek for the lady of fashion and the poet, those two little people were being rapidly paddled down the stream and away from their friends.
the lady of fashion and the poet had gone to the bank of the creek for a picnic. they had eaten their lunch and the lady of fashion suggested that they walk down the stream in search of wild flowers. they had only gone a little ways when the wild men, who had been watching them, suddenly leaped upon them from behind a big bush. in a few seconds the wild little fellows had carried their tiny prisoners to their canoe, after having securely bound their hands behind them. lifting the teenie weenies into the boat the wild men jumped in after them and began to paddle down the creek.
“this is a pretty bag of seeds,” moaned the poet as the boat shot rapidly down the stream. “it’s hard to tell what will become of us now.”
“if—if we could just get word to the general,” whispered the lady of fashion, “he’d bring the army and come after these—these wild men and rescue us.”
“there’s no chance of writing a note and dropping it somewhere, with our hands tied behind us.”
“i’ll tell you what we can do,” whispered the lady of fashion. “if we should see a bird we can call to it and ask it to tell the general that we have been captured.”
but the two teenie weenies never came close enough to a bird all that day, for the wild men paddled their canoe near the shore of the creek under the cover of the overhanging ferns and grass.
the queen of the wild men, sitting on the back of her turtle.—chapter five.
as the canoe floated along down the stream the lady of fashion and the poet spent their time studying the strange little wild men, or saboes, as they were called. they were sturdily built little chaps, but a trifle smaller than the teenie weenies. they had dark brown skins, bushy hair, and around their fierce-looking eyes were painted circles of white. one or two of the wild men wore shirts with skirts almost to their knees, but the most of them were dressed only in trousers which were made from the skins of young frogs. their spears were made of long sticks with a sharp fish bone tied to the end, and several of them carried bows and arrows, while their war clubs were made by fastening sharp blackberry thorns to a short handle. many of the little wild men wore strings of beautifully carved raspberry beads about their necks and arms, which the little fellows called “gum gum,” the sabo name for money.
the canoe, which the little men paddled very skillfully, was made from a huge cucumber, and on the end of the boat was painted a queer face. this face was supposed to look like a cat and was meant to frighten the saboes’ enemies.
when evening came on and it began to grow dark, the wild men stopped on a sandy beach, where they made the two teenie weenies understand by motions that they would rest a while.
several of the saboes bent over the stem of a tall dandelion, while one of the little men gathered an armful of the soft, fluffy down, which he put on the ground and covered with dry grass and sticks. he then took two sticks and rubbed them together so hard that they grew very hot and soon a spark fell into the dandelion down, which blazed up and quickly set fire to the grass and sticks.
presently two of the wild men, who had disappeared in the direction of the creek, returned and one of them carried the leg of a frog over his shoulder. the little men cut the leg into great chunks almost as big as a pea and these were soon roasting over the fire.
the lady of fashion and the poet sat on a log beside the fire and although the lady of fashion tried hard to keep from crying, every now and then a tear would trickle down her tiny cheek.
“don’t worry,” said the poet. “the general will find some way to come to our rescue. he won’t let any harm come to us.”
“i-i-i s-s-s-suppose so,” sobbed the little lady. “but i-i-i haven’t a clean handkerchief and—and—and my hair is a sight!”
in spite of the fact that the teenie weenies were terribly worried, the roasting meat smelled wonderfully good and when it was done the prisoners’ hands were untied and they were each given a piece. both ate a good portion and agreed that it was delicious. they wiped their fingers on a leaf and then the wild men tied their hands again and made them understand that they were to sleep.
all night long the wild men kept up a bright fire. they took turns sleeping and watching their prisoners, but the two teenie weenies needed very little watching, for they were quite tired out with the day’s experience and slept most of the night.
at the very first break of day the wild men were awake and after a hurried breakfast of frog ham and a blackberry which one of the men found, they once more pushed out in the canoe and paddled down the stream.
two days later they landed on the island where the wild men lived. when the two teenie weenies stepped out of the canoe a great number of the wild little people came running toward them. the women and children stared at them in great astonishment, while the men danced and swung their clubs and spears in a most terrible way.
