About that time the Ark, with Noah and his people, all
safe and snug, came drifting that way.
"'Halloo!' says the occupant of the rock, 'send us a boat, and take
us aboard. The freshet is getting pretty bad, and it is getting a
little damp, up here.'
"'I can't do it,' says Noah, 'my craft is full of better people.'
"'But,' says the applicant for admission into the Ark, 'let me in, and
I'll superintend the navigation. I'll man the wheel, and see that the
sails are all right, and we can pick up a deal of floating plunder as
we go along.'
"'Can't do it,' says Noah, 'we've got a good steersman and safe
navigators on board already.'
"'Well,' says the applicant, 'I'll work my passage as a deck hand,
asking only a small portion of such spoils as we may pick up. Come,
bring us aboard.'
"'Can't do it,' says Noah, 'can't think of such a thing."
"'Then,' said the persevering applicant for a passage in the Ark,
'I'll go along for nothing--giving the benefit of my counsel and
assistance free gratis; more than all that, I'll stand the liquor
all round.'
"'No use in talking,' says Noah, 'you can't come on board of my craft,
on any terms. You'd corrupt my people, and set them by the ears in a
week. You can't have a berth on any conditions. Good-bye!'
"'Then go to thunder with your old Ark,' indignantly responded the
occupant of the rock, 'I don't believe there's going to be much of a
shower, after all.
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