She put down her card, and at that moment the agonized cry came again, apparently from immediately under the veranda. Dorothy gripped her hands tightly together, and again looked round on the unmoved faces. Again the cry resounded.
"Surely," she said, looking appealingly at Bob, "there is something or some one in dreadful pain outside."
Bob laughed.
"I thought you seemed upset, but I didn't like to mention it," he said. "That's nothing but a dingo howling. There'll be a whole pack of them at it presently, I dare say. I'll go out and disperse them as soon as the game is over."
"What is a dingo?" inquired Miss Chase.
"Don't you know that, Aunt Dorothy?" asked Peter in tones of contemptuous astonishment. "Well, it's the commonest thing here."
"Peter," said Bob gravely, "do you know what a top hat and a frock coat are like?"
Peter shook his head in bewilderment.
"Don't you?" said Bob, mimicking the small boy's tone. "Well, they're the commonest things in England. I am surprised at your ignorance!"
Peter reddened.