The Last of the Huggermuggers

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  THE LAST OF THE HUGGERMUGGERS,

  A GIANT STORY.

  BY

  CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH

  CONTENTS.

  CHAP. I.--How Little Jacket would go to Sea.

  CHAP. II.--His Good and his Bad Luck at Sea.

  CHAP. III.--How he fared on Shore.

  CHAP. IV.--How Huggermugger came along.

  CHAP. V.--What happened to Little Jacket in the Giant's Boot.

  CHAP. VI.--How Little Jacket escaped from Kobboltozo's Shop.

  CHAP. VII.--How he made use of Huggermugger in Travelling.

  CHAP. VIII.--How Little Jacket and his Friends left the Giant's Island.

  CHAP. IX.--Mr. Nabbum.

  CHAP. X.--Zebedee and Jacky put their heads together.

  CHAP. XI.--They sail for Huggermugger's Island.

  CHAP. XII.--The Huggermuggers in a new Light.

  CHAP. XIII.--Huggermugger Hall.

  CHAP. XIV.--Kobbletozo astonishes Mr. Scrawler.

  CHAP. XV.--Mrs. Huggermugger grows thin and fades away.

  CHAP. XVI.--The Sorrows of Huggermugger.

  CHAP. XVII.--Huggermugger leaves his Island.

  CHAP. XVIII.--The Last of the Huggermuggers.

  THE LAST OF THE HUGGERMUGGERS.

  CHAPTER ONE.

  HOW LITTLE JACKET WOULD GO TO SEA.

  I dare say there are not many of my young readers who have heard aboutJacky Cable, the sailor-boy, and of his wonderful adventures onHuggermugger's Island. Jacky was a smart Yankee lad, and was alwaysremarkable for his dislike of staying at home, and a love of loungingupon the wharves, where the sailors used to tell him stories aboutsea-life. Jacky was always a little fellow. The country people, whodid not much like the sea, or encourage Jacky's fondness for it, usedto say, that he took so much salt air and tar smoke into his lungsthat it stopped his growth. The boys used to call him Little Jacket.Jacky, however, though small in size, was big in wit, being anuncommonly smart lad, though he did play truant sometimes, and seldomknew well his school-lessons. But some boys learn faster out of schoolthan in school, and this was the case with Little Jacket. Before hewas ten years old, he knew every rope in a ship, and could manage asail-boat or a row-boat with equal ease. In fine, salt water seemed tobe his element; and he was never so happy or so wide awake as when hewas lounging with the sailors in the docks. The neighbors thought hewas a sort of good-for-nothing, idle boy, and his parents oftengrieved that he was not fonder of home and of school. But LittleJacket was not a bad boy, and was really learning a good deal in hisway, though he did not learn it all out of books.

  Well, it went on so, and Little Jacket grew fonder and fonder of thesea, and pined more and more to enlist as a sailor, and go off to thestrange countries in one of the splendid big ships. He did not saymuch about it to his parents, but they saw what his longing was, andafter thinking and talking the matter over together, they concludedthat it was about as well to let the boy have his way.

  So when Little Jacket was about fifteen years old, one bright summer'sday, he kissed his father and mother, and brothers and sisters, andwent off as a sailor in a ship bound to the East Indies.

  CHAPTER TWO.

  HIS GOOD AND HIS BAD LUCK AT SEA.

  It was a long voyage, and there was plenty of hard work for LittleJacket, but he found several good fellows among the sailors, and wasso quick, so bright, so ready to turn his hand to every thing, andwithal of so kind and social a disposition, that he soon became afavorite with the Captain and mates, as with all the sailors. They hadfine weather, only too fine, the Captain said, for it was summer time,and the sea was often as smooth as glass. There were lazy times thenfor the sailors, when there was little work to do, and many a storywas told among them as they lay in the warm moonlight nights on theforecastle. But now and then there came a blow of wind, and all handshad to be stirring--running up the shrouds, taking in sails, pullingat ropes, plying the pump; and there was many a hearty laugh amongthem at the ducking some poor fellow would get, as now and then a wavebroke over the deck.

  Things went on, however, pretty smoothly with Little Jacket, on thewhole, for some time. They doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and weremaking their way as fast as they could to the coast of Java, when thesky suddenly darkened, and there came on a terrible storm. They tookin all the sails they could, after having several carried away by thewind. The vessel scudded, at last, almost under bare poles. The stormwas so violent as to render her almost unmanageable, and they werecarried a long way out of their course. Everybody had tremendous workto perform, and Little Jacket began to wish he were safe on dry landagain. Day after day the poor vessel drifted and rolled. The sky wasso dark, that the Captain could not take an observation to tell inwhat part of the ocean they were. At last, they saw that they weredriving towards some enormous cliffs that loomed up in the darkness.Every one lost hope of the ship being saved. Still they neared thecliffs, and now they saw the white breakers ahead, close under them.The Captain got the boats out, to be in readiness for the worst. Butthe sea was too rough to use them. At last, with a mighty crash, thegreat ship struck upon the black rocks. All was confusion and wildrushing of the salt waves over them, and poor Jacky found himself inthe foaming surge. Struggling to reach the shore, a great wave didwhat he could not have done himself. He was thrown dripping wet, andbruised, upon the rocks. When he came to himself, he discovered thatseveral of his companions had also reached the shore, but nothing morewas seen of the ship. She had gone down in the fearful tempest, andcarried I know not how many poor fellows down with her.

  CHAPTER THREE.

  HOW HE FARED ON SHORE.

  All this was bad enough, as Little Jacket thought. But he was verythankful that he was alive and on shore, and able to use his limbs,and that he found some companions still left. He was not long eitherin using his wits, and in making the best use of the chances stillleft him. He found himself upon a rocky promontory. But on climbing alittle higher up, he could see that there was beyond it, and joiningon to it, a beautiful smooth beach. The rocks were enormous, and heand his comrades had hard work to clamber over them. It took them agood while to do so, exhausted as they were by fatigue, and drippingwith wet. At length they reached the beach, the sands of which were ofvery large grain, and so loose that they had to wade nearly knee deepthrough them. The country back of the shore seemed very rocky andrough, and here and there were trees of an enormous magnitude. Everything seemed on a gigantic scale, even to the weeds and grasses thatgrew on the edge of the beach, where it sloped up to join the mainland. And they could see, by mounting on a stone, the same greatgloomy cliffs which they saw before the ship struck, but some milesinland. But what most attracted their attention, was the enormous andbeautiful great sea-shells, which lay far up on the shore. They werenot only of the most lovely colors, but quite various in form, and solarge that a man might creep into them. Little Jacket was not long indiscovering the advantage of this fact, for they might be obliged,when night came on, to retire into these shells, as they saw no houseanywhere within sight. Now, Little Jacket had read Robinson Crusoe,and Gulliver's Travels, and had half believed the wonderful stories ofBrobdignag; but he never thought that he should ever be actuallywrecked on a giant's island. There now seemed to be a probability thatit might be so, after all. What meant these enormous weeds, and trees,and rocks, and grains of sand, and these huge shells? What meant thesegreat cliffs in the distance? He began to feel a little afraid. But hethought about Gulliver, and how well he fared after all, and, o
n thewhole, looked forward rather with pleasure at the prospect of somestrange adventure. Now and then he thought he could make out somethinglike huge footprints on the shore--but this might be fancy. At anyrate, they would hide themselves if they saw the giant coming. And ifthey could only find some food to live upon, they might get ontolerably well for a time. And perhaps this was only a fancy aboutgiants, and they might yet find civilized beings like themselvesliving here.

  Now Little Jacket began to be very hungry, and so did hiscompanions--there were six of them--and they all determined to lookabout as far inland as they dared to go, for some kind of fruit orvegetable which might satisfy their appetites. They were not long indiscovering a kind of beach-plum, about as big as watermelons, whichgrew on a bush so tall, that they had to reach the fruit at arm'slength, and on tiptoe. The stalks were covered with very sharp thorns,about a foot long. Some of these thorns they cut off, (they had theirknives in their pockets still,) for Little Jacket thought they mightbe of service to them in defending themselves against any wild animalwhich might prowl around at night. It chanced that Little Jacket foundgood use for his in the end, as we shall see. When they had gatheredenough of these great plums, they sat down and dined upon them.

  They found them a rather coarse, but not unpalatable fruit. As theywere still very wet, they took off their clothes, and dried them inthe sun: for the storm had ceased, and the sun now came out very warm.The great waves, however, still dashed up on the beach. When theirclothes were dry, they put them on, and feeling a good deal refreshed,spent the rest of the day in looking about to see what was to be donefor the future. As night came on, they felt a good deal dispirited;but Little Jacket encouraged his companions, by telling stories ofsailors who had been saved, or had been taken under the protection ofthe kings of the country, and had married the king's daughters, andall that. So they found a group of the great shells near each other,seven of them, lying high and dry out of the reach of the dashingwaves, and, after bidding each other good night, they crept in. LittleJacket found his dry and clean, and having curled himself up, in spiteof his anxiety about the future, was soon fast asleep.

  CHAPTER FOUR.

  HOW HUGGERMUGGER CAME ALONG.

  Now it happened that Little Jacket was not altogether wrong in hisfancies about giants, for there _was_ a giant living in thisisland where the poor sailors were wrecked. His name was Huggermugger,and he and his giantess wife lived at the foot of the great cliffsthey had seen in the distance. Huggermugger was something of a farmer,something of a hunter, and something of a fisherman. Now, it being awarm, clear, moonlight night, and Huggermugger being disposed to roamabout, thought he would take a walk down to the beach to see if thelate storm had washed up any clams [Footnote: The "clam" is anAmerican bivalve shell-fish, so called from hiding itself in the sand.A "clam chowder" is a very savory kind of thick soup, of which theclam is a chief ingredient. I put in this note for the benefit oflittle English boys and girls, if it should chance that this storyshould find its way to their country.] or oysters, or othershell-fish, of which he was very fond. Having gathered a good basketfull, he was about returning, when his eye fell upon the group ofgreat shells in which Little Jacket and his friends were reposing, allsound asleep.

  THE GIANT PICKS UP LITTLE JACKET'S BEDROOM.]

  "Now," thought Huggermugger, "my wife has often asked me to fetch homeone of these big shells. She thinks it would look pretty on hermantel-piece, with sunflowers sticking in it. Now I may as wellgratify her, though I can't exactly see the use of a shell without afish in it. Mrs. Huggermugger must see something in these shells thatI don't."

  So he didn't stop to choose, but picked up the first one that came tohis hand, and put it in his basket. It was the very one in whichLittle Jacket was asleep. The little sailor slept too soundly to knowthat he was travelling, free of expense, across the country at arailroad speed, in a carriage made of a giant's fish-basket.Huggermugger reached his house, mounted his huge stairs, set down hisbasket, and placed the big shell on the mantel-piece.

  "Wife," says he, "here's one of those good-for-nothing big shells youhave often asked me to bring home."

  "Oh, what a beauty," says she, as she stuck a sunflower in it, andstood gazing at it in mute admiration. But, Huggermugger being hungry,would not allow her to stand idle.

  MRS. HUGGERMUGGER ADMIRES THE SHELL AND SUNFLOWER.]

  "Come," says he, "let's have some of these beautiful clams cooked forsupper--they are worth all your fine shells with nothing in them."

  So they sat down, and cooked and ate their supper, and then went tobed.

  Little Jacket, all this time, heard nothing of their great rumblingvoices, being in as sound a sleep as he ever enjoyed in his life. Heawoke early in the morning, and crept out of a shell--but he couldhardly believe his eyes, and thought himself still dreaming, when hefound himself and his shell on a very high, broad shelf, in a roombigger than any church he ever saw. He fairly shook and trembled inhis shoes, when the truth came upon him that he had been trapped by agiant, and was here a prisoner in his castle. He had time enough,however, to become cool and collected, for there was not a sound to beheard, except now and then something resembling a thunder-likesnoring, as from some distant room. "Aha," thought Little Jacket tohimself, "it is yet very early, and the giant is asleep, and there maybe time yet to get myself out of his clutches."

  He was a brave little fellow, as well as a true Yankee in hissmartness and ingenuity. So he took a careful observation of the room,and its contents. The first thing to be done was to let himself downfrom the mantel-piece. This was not an easy matter as it was veryhigh. If he jumped, he would certainly break his legs. He was not longin discovering one of Huggermugger's fishing-lines tied up and lyingnot far from him. This he unrolled, and having fastened one end of itto a nail which he managed just to reach, he let the other end drop(it was as large as a small rope) and easily let himself down to thefloor. He then made for the door, but that was fastened. Jacky,however, was determined to see what could be done, so he pulled outhis jackknife, and commenced cutting into the corner of the door atthe bottom, where it was a good deal worn, as if it had been gnawed bythe rats. He thought that by cutting a little now and then, and hidinghimself when the giant should make his appearance, in time he mightmake an opening large enough for him to squeeze himself through. NowHuggermugger was by this time awake, and heard the noise which Jackymade with his knife.

  "Wife," says he, waking her up--she was dreaming about her beautifulshell--"wife, there are those eternal rats again, gnawing, gnawing atthat door; we must set the trap for them to-night."

  Little Jacket heard the giant's great voice, and was very muchastonished that he spoke English. He thought that giants spoke nothingbut "chow-chow-whangalorum-hallaballoo with a-ruffle-bull-bagger!"This made him hope that Huggermugger would not eat him. So he grewvery hopeful, and determined to persevere. He kept at his work, but assoftly as he could. But Huggermugger heard the noise again, or fanciedhe heard it, and this time came to see if he could not kill the ratthat gnawed so steadily and so fearlessly. Little Jacket heard himcoming, and rushed to hide himself. The nearest place of retreat wasone of the giant's great boots, which lay on the floor, opening like acave before him. Into this he rushed. He had hardly got into it beforeHuggermugger entered.

  CHAPTER FIVE.

  WHAT HAPPENED TO LITTLE JACKET IN THE GIANT'S BOOT.

  Huggermugger made a great noise in entering, and ran up immediately tothe door at which Little Jacket had been cutting, and threshed abouthim with a great stick, right and left. He then went about the room,grumbling and swearing, and poking into all the corners and holes insearch of the rat; for he saw that the hole under the door had beenenlarged, and he was sure that the rats had done it. So he wentpeeping and poking about, making Little Jacket not a little troubled,for he expected every moment that he would pick up the boot in whichhe was concealed, and shake him out of his hiding-place. Singularlyenough, however, the giant never thought of looking int
o his ownboots, and very soon he went back to his chamber to dress himself.Little Jacket now ventured to peep out of the boot, and stoodconsidering what was next to be done. He hardly dared to go again tothe door, for Huggermugger was now dressed, and his wife too, for heheard their voices in the next room, where they seemed to be preparingtheir breakfast. Little Jacket now was puzzling his wits to think whathe should do, if the giant should take a fancy to put his boots onbefore he could discover another hiding-place. He noticed, however,that there were other boots and shoes near by, and so there was achance that Huggermugger might choose to put on some other pair. Ifthis should be the case, he might lie concealed where he was duringthe day, and at night work away again at the hole in the door, whichhe hoped to enlarge enough soon, to enable him to escape. He had notmuch time, however, for thought; for the giant and his wife soon camein. By peeping out a little, he could just see their great feetshuffling over the wide floor.

  "And now, wife." says Huggermugger, "bring me my boots." He was a lazygiant, and his wife spoiled him, by waiting on him too much.

  "Which boots, my dear," says she.

  "Why, the long ones," says he; "I am going a hunting to-day, and shallhave to cross the marshes."

  Little Jacket hoped the long boots were not those in one of which hewas concealed, but unfortunately they were the very ones. So he felt agreat hand clutch up the boots, and him with them, and put them downin another place. Huggermugger then took up one of the boots and drewit on, with a great grunt. He now proceeded to take up the other.Little Jacket's first impulse was to run out and throw himself on thegiant's mercy, but he feared lest he should be taken for a rat.Besides he now thought of a way to defend himself, at least for awhile. So he drew from his belt one of the long thorns he had cut fromthe bush by the seaside, and held it ready to thrust it into hisadversary's foot, if he could. But he forgot that though it was as asword in _his_ hand, it was but a thorn to a giant. Huggermuggerhad drawn the boot nearly on, and Little Jacket's daylight was allgone, and the giant's great toes were pressing down on him, when hegave them as fierce a thrust as he could with his thorn.