"Yes, you must splint it up," Laverne said, with decision. "I can find some cord, and—what will you have?"
Pablo shrugged his shoulders and said something just under his breath in pure Mexican, not quite the thing for a little girl to hear.
"And when Uncle Jason comes home we will see about the wing. Won't this old basket make splints?"
Pablo went about his job unwillingly. Laverne wrapped him up so that he could not kick with the other leg, and presently they had the wounded member bandaged. The gull lay quite still, but Laverne saw the frightened heart beat through the feathers.
Pablo raised the wing and shook his head dubiously.
"Uncle Jason is coming home early with the horses, you know," she said to Miss Holmes. "Oh, my shoes and stockings!" and off she ran to the spot where they had been at work. "Pablo can go on clearing this out," she said to herself. "It will be all ready when the rainy season sets in. Oh, the poor flowers! Sun, why do you scorch them up so! And in Maine the summer is so delightful. But the winter, oh!" and she made a half wry, half amused face.
She was all ready when Uncle Jason came up the street on one horse and leading the other; and all eagerness, she was telling her story while he dismounted and fastened them both.
"That's funny," he said. "Next a black bear will come knocking at your door. Or you might snare a silver-gray fox and have a tippet made of his skin."
"As if I could be so cruel!"
The gull had hardly moved. Now, it seemed frightened at the strange face and struggled. Uncle Jason spoke softly, and lifted the wounded wing which was considerably shattered.