roof cloak big enough for them all to sit on together, but it was
too late, for the refection was over; the basket, containing only the
three plates and the three tin mugs, propped up between Ted and Cissy,
toppled over with the start the children gave at the sound of their
mother's voice, and a regular "Jack and Jill" clatter down the slope was
the result. The children screamed with delight and excitement as they
raced after the truant mugs and plates, and their mother, thinking that
her staying longer might cause a little constraint in the merriment,
turned to go, just saying cheerfully, "Children, I have brought my big
waterproof cloak for you to sit on, but as your feast is over I suppose
you won't need it. What are you going to do next?"

"O mother, we're just going to set to work," Ted's voice replied; "we're
having such fun."

"Well, good-bye then. I am going a walk with your father, but in case of
a change of weather, though it certainly doesn't look like it, I'll
leave the cloak."

She turned and left them. An hour or two later, when she came home to
the farm-house and stood for a moment looking up at the sky, it seemed
to her as if her remark about the weather had been a shadow of coming
events. For the bright blue sky had clouded over, a slight chilly breeze
ruffled the leaves as if in friendly warning to the birds and the
butterflies to get under shelter, and before many moments had passed
large heavy drops began to fall, which soon grew into a regular
downpour. What a changed world!

"What will the children do?" was the mother's first thought as she
watched it. "It is too heavy to last, and fortunately there is no sign
of thunder about. I don't see that there is anything to be done but to
wait a little; they are certain to be under shelter in the wood, and any
one going for them would be drenched in two minutes."

So she did her best to wait patiently and not to feel uneasy, though
several times in the course of the next half-hour she went to the window
to see if there were no sign of the rain abating. Alas, no! As heavily
as ever, and even more steadily, it fell. Something must be done she
decided, and she was just thinking of going to the kitchen to consult
Mrs. Crosby, when as she turned from the window a curious object rolling
or slowly hobbling down the hill-side caught her view. That was the way
the children would come--what could that queer thing be? It was not too
high, but far too broad to be