Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/162

 "It was clearly impossible to make a meal of 'Saratoga water.' So, hungry and slow, the party went back to the grove.

I'll tell you what,' said Reginald, 'the first thing in the morning we'll catch a buffalo or a wild ass, and tame him. Luckily I've a piece of string in my pocket, so we can "pierce his nostrils," and put it in. Then I'll gallop round to the other side of the Island, you know, and find things.'

I want my supper,' wailed Nora, who was too tired and hungry to be consoled with this distant prospect of a wild ass.

"Tom began to cry too; and for a while the older ones were at their wits' end to comfort them. Some blueberries which they found had the desired effect at last; and, cuddled in their sisters' laps, the little creatures fell asleep. The whole party nestled together in a mossy place in the woods. The waves on the beach began to sound hollow and mournful. Alice shuddered a little.