Polly turned to place the nuggets in the pannier and almost collided with Noddy.
"Hello, darling! What do you want—eh?" said she, patting the burro's head.
Noddy continued to gaze wistfully at her mistress and Polly said:
"Anne, did you feed the burros and horses?"
"Yes, just as you told me to."
"And make the beds?"
"Yes, everything."
Then Noddy ambled over to a pan of dirty snow water, in which the explorers had washed their blackened faces. She would have to drink it, if her mistress couldn't understand what she needed!
"Oh, you Noddy! Is that what you want?" laughed Polly, taking the pan and running out to the ledge to fill it with clean snow. This she brought back and melted to provide drink for the burro.
"Did your thoughtless foster-mother forget a drink for her little Noddy!" crooned Polly, placing the pan for the thirsty burro. "After all that hard climbing and 'first-aid,' too!"
The other girls laughed at the wise little burro and her doting mistress, but Polly turned and said: "It's lucky Noddy reminded me! We must water the horses well to-night if we want them in good shape for to-morrow."