As it grew light and the animals stopped howling, Donna Maria let the children get down from the cart and run along picking flowers with Shecol and Yappa. Such fun as they had climbing up the hillsides, gathering whole handfuls of the first shooting-stars and buttercups!
Once they all tried to run down a steep hill to see which one would be the first to get to a stray poppy that had blossomed earlier than the others. Shecol was ahead, but just as he reached the poppy, he caught his foot in a gopher hole and fell. The oldest Spanish boy was close behind, and he fell over Shecol. Yappa fell on top of him. The four other children were coming so fast that they could not stop, so they were all piled in a heap.
Colla, Putsha, and the other women put soap on the clothes; then they dipped them into the creek.
They got on their feet again as soon as they could, and Yappa said, “Shecol and the poppy must be crushed entirely.” But when Shecol could be seen again they found that he was laughing, and that he had happened to throw his arm around the poppy, so that it was not hurt.
Just then they heard Donna Maria’s voice calling, “Come, children. You will get left behind,” so they started off again on a run to catch up with the cart. Shecol gave the poppy to Yappa to carry; then he turned somersaults all the way down to the foot of the hill.
When they got to the cart, they filled Donna Maria’s lap with flowers. The smaller children were tired, so they sat in the back of the cart, with their feet hanging over behind.
The children all liked to have the wash-day come, for it was like one big picnic for them.
By and by they came to the creek. The men took the loads off the horses and unyoked the oxen. Then they turned them all loose to graze on the wild oats. The children helped the women carry the baskets of soiled clothes down to the rocks.
Colla, Putsha, and the other women put soap on the clothes. Then they dipped them into the creek and rubbed them on the rocks in the creek bed. This made the clothes very white, for the wash-water was always clean and fresh.