"Wouldn't it be more convenient if we were your size?" asked Pierre.
"What do you mean by size?" asked the guard frowning.
"My cap is gone!" cried Iona.
Pierre looked all about in his pockets. "So is mine," he returned, looking very blank. "Rose-Petal gave us some caps like yours—" he was explaining, but the guard interrupted him.
"This is not Rose-Petal's affair, it is mine, so don't ask any more foolish questions but follow me."
They went down to the river's edge, and there were the letter and the number, dancing on the ripples like little rafts, and the children got on board.
"You remember my directions?" asked the guard.
"Perfectly," they replied. Then the guard with the point of his sword pushed the rafts off from shore and waved them adieu.
They called back their thanks to him and began to enjoy their ride very much. They could see the fish swimming about them, and several times they thought the fish gently nosed their rafts along so the current could not bear them down stream.
At last they touched the opposite shore and jumping out they looked about for the pool. The bulrushes were so thick that for some time they could not find it, but at last they saw another orange flower like the first, flaming among the green and they hastened their steps. Its odor perfumed all the air.