The Admiral's Caravan   By: Charles E. Carryl (1841-1920)

BY

CHARLES E. CARRYL

AUTHOR OF "DAVY AND THE GOBLIN"

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY REGINALD B. BIRCH

[Illustration: The Riverside Press]

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge

Copyright, 1891, 1892, 1919, and 1920, by The Century Co. Copyright, 1920, by Charles E. Carryl

[Illustration: "THE ADMIRAL, MAKING A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO GET A VIEW OF HIS LEGS THROUGH HIS SPY GLASS."]

TO CONSTANCE

Sweet Chatterbox, 't is thou that hast beguiled My fancy, as it drew the little child Who in these pages lives; her gentle ways Are but the reflex of thy round of days. The trip of syllable I held so dear, And all thy small remarks, are treasured here Charmed by the alchemy of love to stay The while thy blissful childhood slips away. Kind little heart, that knows no selfish thought, Read here the tale that thou, thyself, hast wrought!

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I Dorothy and the Admiral 11

CHAPTER II The Ferry to Nowhere 23

CHAPTER III The Cruise of the Sideboard 32

CHAPTER IV Tree top Country 39

CHAPTER V Bob Scarlet's Garden 54

CHAPTER VI In the Toy shop 66

CHAPTER VII The Song in the Dell 81

CHAPTER VIII Something About the Camel 95

CHAPTER IX The Camel's Complaint 104

CHAPTER X The Sizing Tower 112

CHAPTER XI The Dancing Animals 120

CHAPTER XII The Caravan Comes Home 129

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE "The Admiral, making a desperate attempt to get a view of his legs through his spy glass" Frontispiece

Head piece to Chapter I 11

The Admiral 13

The Highlander 14

Sir Walter Rosettes 15

"The Admiral, making a desperate attempt to get a view of his legs through his spy glass" 19

"The Admiral sat up and gazed about with a complacent smile" 21

"'They're entirely different from mine, anyhow,' said the Stork" 25

"It seemed like listening to an enormous cuckoo clock" 26

"'Dear Me!' she exclaimed, 'here comes all the furniture!'" 30

"The Admiral exclaimed: 'There she is! I can see her quite plainly!'" 34

"The sideboard slowly floated along through this strange forest" 40

Dorothy makes a call in the tree top country 43

The extraordinary Post Captain 47 and 48

"He did a little fifing on the edges of the note" 49

"Sir Peter caught the pirate, and he took him by the neck" 51

"He was walking about with his hands in his waistcoat pockets" 55

"There were plants loaded down with little pinafores, and shrubs with small shoes growing all over them" 57