A machete is a long strong knife, and he used it to cut up the wood into small pieces. Then he tied it up in a bundle with his lasso to carry home on Tonto’s back.
The children had such fun wandering about, gathering sticks, and looking for birds’ nests that they didn’t think a thing [p 112] about time until they suddenly realized that they were very hungry. They had gone some distance into the wood, and quite out of sight of Tonto by this time.
II
They sat down on a fallen log and ate their lunch, and then they were thirsty.
“Let’s find a brook and get a drink,” said Tonio. “I know there must be one right near here.”
They left their bundle of wood and walked for some distance searching for water, but no stream did they find. They grew thirstier and thirstier.
“It seems to me I shall dry up and blow away if we don’t find it pretty soon,” said Tita.
“I’ve almost found it, I think,” answered Tonio. “It must be right over by those willow trees.”
They went to the willow trees but there was no stream there.
“I think we’d better go back and get [p 113] the wood and start home,” said Tita. “We can get a drink in the goat-pasture.”