“‘Horrid! salt!’ cried Reggy, making dreadful faces. ‘It’s that stuff Papa takes sometimes before breakfast,—I forget the name.’
“‘“Saratoga water”?’ said Alice, sniffing it daintily, and applying her tongue. ‘So it is. Well, that’s real mean! I didn’t suppose medicines and such things ever came ashore on Desert Islands!’
“It was clearly impossible to make a meal of ‘Saratoga water.’ So, hungry and slow, the party went back to the grove.
“‘I’ll tell you what,’ said Reginald, ‘the first thing in the morning we’ll catch a buffalo or a wild ass, and tame him. Luckily I’ve a piece of string in my pocket, so we can “pierce his nostrils,” and put it in. Then I’ll gallop round to the other side of the Island, you know, and find things.’
“‘I want my supper,’ wailed Nora, who was too tired and hungry to be consoled with this distant prospect of a wild ass.
“Tom began to cry too; and for a while the older ones were at their wits’ end to comfort them. Some blueberries which they found had the desired effect at last; and, cuddled in their sisters’ laps, the little creatures fell asleep. The whole party nestled together in a mossy place in the woods. The waves on the beach began to sound hollow and mournful. Alice shuddered a little.
“‘Please hold my hand tight, Reggy,’ she said.
“‘Oh dear!’ sighed Emmy. ‘Was that a drop of rain on my nose? I do believe it’s going to sprinkle! And we haven’t any umbrellas.’
“‘What did the people in the book do when it sprinkled?’ asked Reginald. ‘Or didn’t it ever sprinkle there?’
“‘Only in the “rainy season,”’ replied Emmy; ‘and then they shut themselves up in a cave. It must be nice to have “rainy seasons,” and know just what to expect. Here, it just rains whenever it likes, and catches you!’