They were very much frightened. They closed the clock door as quickly as possible, got down from the chair, put the things all tidy, and left the room.
Nothing more occurred till breakfast-time next morning, when the father called out suddenly, “Why, the clock has stopped!” and when he examined it he found the mainspring was broken. [[187]]
“Somebody has been playing with the clock. Did you touch it, Teddy?”
“No, I never,” answered the boy.
“Was it you, Lily?”
Now, Lily was not in the habit of being untruthful; but she was frightened and replied, “No.”
“One of you must have done it yesterday. Jane saw you coming out of the room,” continued the father.
By dint of questioning, Lily and Teddy at length acknowledged they had been in the room, and then the boy said Lily had touched the timepiece, and then the girl said so had Teddy; but which of them it was that had really broken the spring their father could not discover.
“Very well, my children,” he said. “If you will not tell me who broke the clock, you will be punished some day.” And the father spoke truly.
In that part of the Murray district where Lily and Teddy lived there dwelt a small native race of people called “Moths.” This diminutive tribe lived alone by themselves in a grand shaded valley by the river-bank. They used to be seen very often by the settlers and bushmen riding home late on moonlight nights. Indeed, many travellers had stated they had seen them dancing on the [[188]]green, making merry, courting, laughing, etc., while others vouched to having spoken to the creatures. Be that as it may, the Moths were there in the valley by the river, and had been there long before Teddy and Lily’s grandfather first took up the splendid selection adjacent.