Mike thought it would be a good idea to make two rooms inside Willow House, instead of one big room. The front part could be a sort of living-room, with the larder in a corner, and the back part could be a bedroom, piled with heather and bracken to make soft lying. So they worked at a partition made of willow, and put it up to make two rooms. They left a doorway between, but did not make a door. It was nice to have a two-roomed house!
One evening Jack brought something unusual to the camp-fire on the little beach. Mike stared at what he was carrying.
“You’ve caught some rabbits!” he said, “and you’ve skinned them, too, and got them ready for cooking!”
“Oh, Jack!” said Nora. “Must you catch those dear little rabbits? I do love them so much, and it is such fun to watch them playing about round us in the evenings.”
“I know,” said Jack, “but we must have meat to eat sometimes, Now, don’t worry, Nora - they did not suffer any pain and you know you have often eaten rabbit-pie at home.”
All the same, none of the children enjoyed cooking the rabbits, though they couldn’t help being glad of a change of food. They were getting a little tired of fish. Nora said she felt as if she couldn’t look a rabbit in the face that evening!
“In Australia, rabbits are as much of a pest as rats are here,” said Jack, who seemed to know all sorts of things. “If we were in Australia we would think we had done a good deed to get rid of a few pests.”
“But we’re not in Australia,” said Peggy. Nobody said any more, and the meal was finished in silence. The girls washed up as usual, and the boys went to get some water from the spring ready to boil in the morning. Then they all had a dip in the lake.
“I think I’ll have a shot at getting my cow along to-night,” said Jack, as they dressed themselves again.
“You can’t, Jack!” cried Nora. “You’d never get a cow here!”