Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated) (472 page)

‘Perfectly,’ said her Daddy. ‘And I’ll be quite as s’prised when I see it anywhere, as if you had jumped out from behind a tree and said “Ah!”‘

‘Now, make another noise,’ said Taffy, very proud.

‘Yah!’ said her Daddy, very loud.

‘H’m,’ said Taffy. ‘That’s a mixy noise. The end part is
ah
-carp-fish-mouth; but what can we do about the front part?
Yer-yer-yer
and
ah! Ya!’

‘It’s very like the carp-fish-mouth noise. Let’s draw another bit of the carp-fish and join ‘em,’ said her Daddy.
He
was quite incited too.

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‘No. If they’re joined, I’ll forget. Draw it separate. Draw his tail. If he’s standing on his head the tail will come first. ‘Sides, I think I can draw tails easiest,’ said Taffy.

‘A good notion,’ said Tegumai. ‘Here’s a carp-fish tail for the
yer
-noise.’ And he drew this. (4.)

5

‘I’ll try now,’ said Taffy. ‘‘Member I can’t draw like you, Daddy. Will it do if I just draw the split part of the tail, and the sticky-down line for where it joins?’ And she drew this. (5.)

Her Daddy nodded, and his eyes were shiny bright with ‘citement.

‘That’s beautiful,’ she said. ‘Now make another noise, Daddy.’

6

‘Oh!’ said her Daddy, very loud.

‘That’s quite easy,’ said Taffy. ‘You make your mouth all around like an egg or a stone. So an egg or a stone will do for that.’

‘You can’t always find eggs or stones. We’ll have to scratch a round something like one.’ And he drew this. (6.)

‘My gracious!’ said Taffy, ‘what a lot of noise-pictures we’ve made, — carp-mouth, carp-tail, and egg! Now, make another noise, Daddy.’

‘Ssh!’ said her Daddy, and frowned to himself, but Taffy was too incited to notice.

‘That’s quite easy,’ she said, scratching on the bark.

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‘Eh, what?’ said her Daddy. ‘I meant I was thinking, and didn’t want to be disturbed.’

‘It’s a noise just the same. It’s the noise a snake makes, Daddy, when it is thinking and doesn’t want to be disturbed. Let’s make the
ssh
-noise a snake. Will this do?’ And she drew this. (7.)

‘There,’ she said. ‘That’s another s’prise-secret. When you draw a hissy-snake by the door of your little back-cave where you mend the spears, I’ll know you’re thinking hard; and I’ll come in most mousy-quiet. And if you draw it on a tree by the river when you’re fishing, I’ll know you want me to walk most
most
mousy-quiet, so as not to shake the banks.’

‘Perfectly true,’ said Tegumai. ‘And there’s more in this game than you think. Taffy, dear, I’ve a notion that your Daddy’s daughter has hit upon the finest thing that there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai took to using shark’s teeth instead of flints for their spear-heads. I believe we’ve found out
the
big secret of the world.’

‘Why?’ said Taffy, and her eyes shone too with incitement.

‘I’ll show,’ said her Daddy. ‘What’s water in the Tegumai language?’

‘
Ya
, of course, and it means river too — like Wagai-
ya
— the Wagai river.’

8

‘What is bad water that gives you fever if you drink it — black water — swamp-water?’

‘
Yo
, of course.’

‘Now look,’ said her Daddy. ‘S’pose you saw this scratched by the side of a pool in the beaver-swamp?’ And he drew this. (8.)

‘Carp-tail and round egg. Two noises mixed!
Yo
, bad water,’ said Taffy. ‘‘Course I wouldn’t drink that water because I’d know you said it was bad.’

‘But I needn’t be near the water at all. I might be miles away, hunting, and still —  — ’

9

‘And
still
it would be just the same as if you stood there and said, “G’way, Taffy, or you’ll get fever.” All that in a carp-fish-tail and a round egg! O Daddy, we must tell Mummy, quick!’ and Taffy danced all round him.

‘Not yet,’ said Tegumai; ‘not till we’ve gone a little further. Let’s see.
Yo
is bad water, but
so
is food cooked on the fire, isn’t it?’ And he drew this. (9.)

‘Yes. Snake and egg,’ said Taffy ‘So that means dinner’s ready. If you saw that scratched on a tree you’d know it was time to come to the Cave. So’d I.’

‘My Winkie!’ said Tegumai. ‘That’s true too. But wait a minute. I see a difficulty.
So
means “come and have dinner,” but
sho
means the drying-poles where we hang our hides.’

‘Horrid old drying-poles!’ said Taffy. ‘I hate helping to hang heavy, hot, hairy hides on them. If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I was to help Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles, what
would
I do?’

‘You’d be cross. So’d Mummy. We must make a new picture for
sho
. We must draw a spotty snake that hisses
sh-sh
, and we’ll play that the plain snake only hisses
ssss
.’

10

‘I couldn’t be sure how to put in the spots,’ said Taffy. ‘And p’raps if
you
were in a hurry you might leave them out, and I’d think it was
so
when it was
sho
, and then Mummy would catch me just the same.
No!
I think we’d better draw a picture of the horrid high drying-poles their very selves, and make
quite
sure. I’ll put them in just after the hissy-snake. Look!’ And she drew this. (10.)

‘P’raps that’s safest. It’s very like our drying-poles, anyhow,’ said her Daddy, laughing. ‘Now I’ll make a new noise with a snake and drying-pole sound in it. I’ll say
shi
. That’s Tegumai for spear, Taffy.’ And he laughed.

‘Don’t make fun of me,’ said Taffy, as she thought of her picture-letter and the mud in the Stranger-man’s hair. ‘
You
draw it, Daddy.’

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