ce, where they seated themselves in a row.

For there were three little boys. So it was now supposed. They were
always coming in or going out, and it had been difficult to count
them, and nobody was very sure how many there were.

There they sat, however, on the fence, looking at the cow. She looked
at them with large eyes.

"She won't eat," they cried, "while we are looking at her!"

So they turned about, and pretended to look into the street, and
seated themselves that way, turning their heads back, from time to
time, to see the cow.

"Now she is nibbling a clover."

"No, that is a bit of sorrel."

"It's a whole handful of grass."

"What kind of grass?" they exclaimed.

It was very hard, sitting with their backs to the cow, and pretending
to the cow that they were looking into the street, and yet to be
looking at the cow all the time, and finding out what she was eating;
and the upper rail of the fence was narrow and a little sharp. It was
very high, too, for some additional rails had been put on to prevent
the cow from jumping into the garden or street.

[Illustration]

Suddenly, looking out into the hazy twilight, Elizabeth Eliza saw six
legs and six india-rubber boots in the air, and the little boys
disappeared!

"They are tossed by the cow! The little boys are tossed by the cow!"

Mrs. Peterkin rushed for the window, but fainted on the way. Solomon
John and Elizabeth Eliza were hurrying to the door, but stopped, not
knowing what to do next. Mrs. Peterkin recovered herself with a
supreme effort, and sent them out to the rescue.

But what could they do? The fence had been made so high, to keep the
cow out, that nobody could get in. The boy that did the milking had
gone off with the key of the outer gate, and perhaps with the key of
the shed door. Even if that were not locked, before Agamemnon could
get round by the wood-shed and cow-shed, the little boys might be
gored through and through!

Elizabeth Eliza ran to the neighbors, Solomon John to the druggist's
for plasters, while Agamemnon made his way through the dining-room to
the wood-shed and outer-shed door. Mr. Peterkin mounted the outside of
the fence, while Mrs. Peterkin begged him not to put himself in
danger. He climbed high enough to view the scene. He held to the
corner post and reported what he saw.

They were not gored. The cow was at the other end of the lot. One of
the little boys was lying in a bunch of dark leaves. He was moving.