Robert Louis Stevenson reader

AN INDOOR GAME

Reading edition

Sometimes Louis could not go out to play.

Then he made up a game to play in the house.

One day his cousin Tom came to visit him.

They played every game they knew.

Then Tom said, “I wish we could go out to play.”

“But we cannot,” answered Louis.

“If we could go out, what would you like best to play, Tom?”

“Sailing boats,” answered Tom.

“So would I,” said Louis.

“Let us build a boat, Tom.”

“Where? In the house? A real boat, Louis?”

“No, a make-believe one.

We can build it on the back stairs.”

“Of what shall we build it, Louis?”

“Chairs,” answered Louis.

“Go get all the chairs from the back bedroom.

I will run and get some sofa pillows.

They will make fine cushions for our boat.”

Soon the boat was built.

“All aboard!” shouted Tom.

“What are you thinking of, Tom?” asked Louis.

“Sailors do not sail for miles and miles and days and days in an empty ship, do they?”

Two children sit on a staircase, turning household items into a sailing ship. They use two white blankets for sails, tying them to the balusters and a chair post. A toy drum sits next to an overturned chair. The child on the right, with dark hair, sits higher and holds a thick brown rope, pretending to steer. He wears a white long-sleeved shirt and matching shorts. The child on the left sits lower, peeking out from under a sail. He holds a gray box or block. He also wears a white outfit with a dark sailor-style collar.

“What shall we take with us, Louis?”

“Suppose the ship should leak when we are miles from land.

What would we need then, Tom?”

“Tools to mend it,” answered Tom.

“Yes, so let us get some tools to take with us.”

The boys found some nails and a saw.

These they put into the boat.

“Now, are we ready to sail over the billows?” asked Tom.

“The water of the sea is salt.

I know, for I tasted it when I was at the sea-shore.

We cannot drink it.

So I think I will get some water in a pail from the nursery,” answered Louis.

“I am always thirsty when I am sailing.”

“Yes,” said Tom, “and we cannot sail for miles and miles without getting hungry.”

A boy sits on the floor beside a green wooden chair tipped over. He rubs the back of his head with his left hand. His mouth forms a wide O of surprise or dismay. He is dressed in a white sailor-style suit with a long-sleeved top, a wide collar, a dark necktie, matching white shorts, white ankle socks, and shoes.

The boys filled the nursery pails with water and carried them to the boat.

Then they went down stairs for something to eat.

They got an apple and a slice of cake.

“This is enough for you and me, Tom.

We shall want nothing more till tea-time.”

The lads climbed into the boat and sailed away.

They sailed, they said, for days and days.

The apple, the cake and the water were soon gone.

It was the very best of play!

They were having a fine time till Tom fell out of the boat.

He did not get drowned.

But he must have thought the billows were hard, for he hurt his knee.

So Tom would play no longer.

There was now but one sailor left.

He did not like to sail alone, so he too came ashore.

And the play was ended.