Page:My Friend Annabel Lee (1903).pdf/162

 Oh, yes, I will come,' said Delilah, eagerly.

"For she still was elementary enough to say things eagerly.

"So they went down to where the lotus-flowers grew, where the steep cataract broke over stones.

"It so happened that it was almost the time when the great green river Nile flows out over its banks and makes all wet with water for miles around. At such a time it was the custom of Spoon-bills and cranes and adjutant-birds and others of their ilk, and animals of divers kinds, to leave their homes and move away out of reach of the green and purple flood. But no one had thought of moving yet, for it was too early in the season. Maren Spoon-bill and Oliver W. Spoon-bill had not even begun to gather up their household goods, nor had they, as their wont was, removed the black