r!" said one voice, "I am sure we shall be late. We are
_always_ late. Oh dear! oh dear! I wonder what time it is!"

Tommy and the ex-Pirate stopped and looked about them; but they could
not see any one, and were about to proceed on their way, when they heard
the same plaint again. They parted the tall grasses and followed the
direction whence the sounds appeared to come, until they found two
Turtles plodding along as fast as they could over the rough ground. It
was the larger of the two Turtles that was wailing over the probability
of their being late in arriving wherever they were going.

"What's the matter?" asked the ex-Pirate.

The Turtles paused and looked up.

"The matter?" exclaimed the larger Turtle. "Look at this," and he pulled
a newspaper clipping out from under his shell. "I am sure we shall be
late."

The ex-Pirate took the piece of paper and looked at it. It was an
advertisement:

DELUGE LINE: ......................

THE ARK

(_Captain Noah_)

Will sail at NOON precisely.

"I am sure we shall miss the boat," continued the Turtle, nervously.
"What time is it, please?"

Tommy and the ex-Pirate looked at each other. Neither one had a watch.

"I can't tell you what time it is," answered the little boy. "I'm not
big enough to have a watch; and the last time I saw the clock it was
going so fast, I could not tell what time it was."

"Well," said the Turtle, "you are more polite than the Cuckoos, anyway.
But I am sure we shall be late."

"I guess not," said the ex-Pirate, reassuringly. "Don't get nervous
about it. There is always a delay. The Ark won't sail on time. And
besides, they will have to wait for the mails."

"Oh no," persisted the Turtle. "They won't have to wait for the males,
because we are going aboard in pairs."

"Can't we carry the poor things?" suggested Tommy. "It would be too bad
if they got left."

The Turtle looked up at the little boy with an expression of
overwhelming gratitude. This was all that was needed to persuade the
ex-Pirate, and so he and Tommy leaned over and each picked up a Turtle
and tucked it under his arm.

"This reminds me of a conversation I overheard once," said the
ex-Pirate, as they started off again. "I made a classic out of it; and
as the Sheep is not here to object now, I will recite it to you:

"'It is much to be regretted,'
Said the Turtle to the Snail,
'That as rapid-transit creatures
We so signally must fail.

"'Bu