Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/174

 fields, and the strange little patchwork farms of the Japanese, all made him open his eyes with wonder.

Of course there was the rainy season to reckon with. It rained an hour or two each day, but the earth was always so fresh and beautiful after it that they did not mind. Freckles had never imagined that there was a country where he could hear the quail whistling all through the winter, and where roses would bloom nearly the whole year through.

The strawberries, also, which were just as plenty in winter as in summer, were always in evidence on the table. Truly it was a wonderful country.

Then, for diversion, some of the moving-picture people hired the elephants and camels for pictures. Freckles was allowed to go along and see the fun. He saw battles between the drivers of heavily loaded caravans and dark Moors. He saw elephant hunts, and cowboy stunts that even amazed him, good horseman that he was.