Part 15 (1/2)
”Your uncle's aunts ly
”But they aren't birds at all, they're _ants_,” cried Grizzel
A loud cackle fro wider and wider, now interrupted the discussion: ”Ho, ho, ho! One of you is talking about aunts--your Aunt Maria--and the other is talking about ants--the beasts that go to the sluggard,” he exploded ”You _are_ a pair of ard',” Mollie quoted slowly ”Oh-- _Jerry_--”
It took the
”Next time I see Aunt Mary--bites like red-hot nippers--oh dear!”
”Well, co a cord neatly round his last peg as he spoke ”If you go on laughing like that you'll soon begin to cry, and this et started”
Thus adjured they rolled up their sleeves and set to work Pickaxes were of no use in that sandy soil The boys used their spades, and the girls carried the turned-up sand to the creek, washi+ng it with the utmost care in the cinder-sifter But their effortselse, except pebbles, rewarded their toil
”It's always like that,” Hugh said at last, sitting down on the edge of the hole they had dug ”Gold is the inable
We know a lady as as poor as a washerwoot a letter to say her goldot so rich she simply didn't knohat to do with her money She came to see Papa about it She was an old maid, so naturally there wasn'tto be rich and who poor, with a goldmine So a handful of shi+ngle through his fingers, ”there are amethysts and opals and topazes in some river beds I have never found one ood crystals”
”I think I'll go and look for mine,” said Grizzel ”I hid it in a tree near here I a, and my feet are hot I shall dabble theot up as she spoke and went off towards a particularly gaunt- looking tree Its trunk had split open, showing a hollow large enough to hold several people; for soround like old bones Grizzel disappeared into the hollow trunk, whence she presently eot it safe and sound Now I'rove lovingly Digging is thirsty work
”Let's all go,” said Hugh ”Orange juice is one of the h ill be ready to make a fresh start in half an hour or so Very likely we shall have better luck next ti sunshi+ne into the cool darove was very pleasant The beautiful fruit hung invitingly frorance unknown to London shops There were many varieties, and the Australian children wandered critically from tree to tree
”I'h remarked, ”but perhaps on the whole, for pure refreshment, navels”
He stopped, as he spoke, before a tree on which grew oranges larger than the London children had ever seen in their lives--iolden yellow For a tined, while six people covered themselves with juice, ”Like the ointround in the neighbourhood assuh
”I e could find a place where nuggets lay about like that,” he said rather pensively; ”it would be awfully jolly”
”It would be,” agreed the others, ”es as gold,” Grizzel said reflectively, looking down at the peel-strewn earth ”Think how nice it would be if you were in the veryof thirst like the e tree covered with juicy oranges It would be nicer than finding gold”
”You do talk silly slithers,” Hugh said derisively ”Who ever found a beautiful orange tree in the old and bribe an Arab to give you water”
”You _e tree in an oasis,” Grizzel said huffily
”I a to bathe old You won't find it”
”All right, Carroty-cross-patch You won't get any if we do,” Hugh replied politely
”Don't want it, Goggle-eyed-guinea-pig” Grizzel got up and walked off, her sun-bonnet dangling down her back and her red curls waving over her head No one took any notice of these little amenities No one remembered that the oint together in unity--a good and pleasant thing