Many things now came floating down on the water. Young trees, branches, parts of railings and fences, broken bridges and planks, all went hurrying along, and the water foamed, and roared, and surged, and looked quite fearful.
While they all stood looking on, the gardener still lamenting over his pea-sticks, they saw something that looked like a large covered basket come floating along. It chanced that it passed very near the bank on which they stood, and little Robert cried out, "Stop it!" and began to try to reach it with a long pole he had in his hands, with which he had been pretending to be a ship, and holding this up for the mast. He could not reach it; but the gardener took the pole, and after failing once or twice, managed to push and poke at the basket till he got it so near that the dairy-maid and nurse reached it with their hands, and pulled it to the bank. It was only covered with a few arched sticks, over which a white cloth was fastened.
They all crowded round it to see what it contained. They lifted up the white cloth. O, wonder and surprise! What did they see?
"What was it? What did they see?" cried Mary and Willie both at once.
They saw a pretty little baby fast asleep, and at its feet a cat coiled up comfortably.
"And was the baby not hurt, mamma?"
No, it was quite safe, and did not awake directly. Puss awoke and jumped out, and ran off before any one could stop her.
The gardener said, that the basket, which they now saw to be a cradle, must have floated away from some cottage in the village just above. "Some poor woman is perhaps now in great grief about her child," said he.