"Just cast your eye on them, just look at them," said the Good Wolf. "You have been too much excited to notice them before. Do they look as if I could shake things out of them?"
Barty did look at them and he did gasp then. His voice was almost a whisper. "No," he answered.
The tall pink ear and the tall blue ear had dwindled until they were only ordinary Bad Wolf ear size. "There is something in the air of desert islands that makes them dwindle away," the Good Wolf explained. "I could not shake a pin out of them now."
Barty drew a long breath, stood up straight and dug his strong little hands into his pockets. "Well," he said cheerfully, "all right. I asked for a desert island and I've got one. We shall have to look for everything and make everything exactly like Robinson Crusoe did. I believe it will be more fun. Don't you?"
"Sure of it," chuckled the Good Wolf. "Quite sure of it. If we could shake everything out of our ears when we wanted it, it would be scarcely any fun at all. It doesn't make me feel mournful."
"It doesn't make me feel mournful either," said Barty. "Think what a lot of things we shall have to do."
"Yes," the Good Wolf answered. "We shall have to find a place to sleep in and things to eat and a fire to cook them with."
"I wonder where we shall find the fire?" said Barty.
"I don't know yet," the Good Wolf answered, "but on Robinson Crusoe's Desert Island you did find things somehow."
"It will be great fun looking for them—like playing hide-and-seek," Barty said.