At mid-day dinner, Lizzie was very irate over their neglect of their two little brothers.
“That Richie went under the house after the cat,” he said, “and it had a snake in its mouth.”
This was so every-day an occurrence, that Clif was not in the least conscience-stricken.
“Old Blackeye wouldn’t have let him touch it,” he [145] ]said; “she always takes jolly good care no one gets a show to take it from her.”
“Well, Alf lighted a newspaper,” the girl continued, “he might have set hisself afire. You’ll just stop here this afternoon, Master Clif, and look after them, or I’ll tell the Missus.”
[The woman ran them out of the house with her broom.]
Clif cudgelled his brain to think of something that would keep them safely amused while he and Ted explored further. Whatever happened he felt he must be on the scene every day now when the train came in, for the woman had said that the new people might come any day. Ted was equally convinced that he must, so there could be no relegating duty. At last he hit on a plan, and told Lizzie he was going to take [146] ]the small ones out with him, which quite satisfied the girl. He told Teddie his idea, and between them they purloined one of the clothes-lines, some gingerbread, a bottle of jam, and a newspaper or two.
Then they set off with their troublesome charges. A quarter of an hour’s walk away, at the head of the swamp creek, there were a number of pools of water, very shallow at this dry time of the year. Clif selected an isolated one that was far enough from the bush to be tolerably safe from snakes, and yet close enough to be hidden from the road. He helped the little lads to undress, and he put their clothes in safety on the bough of a tree—part of his responsibility was to keep them from ruining their clothes. Round each of their naked little waists he tied a length of rope which he made fast to the tree. He told them they were wild Indians, imprisoned for scalping whites, but that he had begged the king to give them enough freedom to bathe when they liked, as wild Indians went mad if they didn’t. He put the gingerbread, the bottle of jam, and a spoon close to them, and he rapidly made a fleet of paper boats for them to sail.
The little lads were capering with delight at the novel game, and hardly noticed when the big boys slipped away.