stream was deep enough, in ordinary
weather, to take Jacky above the knees; but one pool had been found,
about two hundred yards from the house, which was large enough, if it
had only been deeper. To deepen it, therefore, they went--every member
of the family.

Let us recall the picture:--

Father, in shirt sleeves rolled up to the shoulders, and trousers rolled
up to the knees, in the middle of the pool, trying to upheave from the
bottom a rock larger than himself--if he only knew it! But he doesn't,
because it is deeply embedded, therefore he toils on in hope. George
building, with turf and stone, a strong embankment with a narrow outlet,
to allow the surplus water to escape. Fred, Lucy, Tilly, and Peter
cutting turf and carrying stones. Mother superintending the whole, and
making remarks. Jacky making himself universally disagreeable, and
distracting his mother in a miscellaneous sort of way.

"It's as good as Robinson Crusoe any day!" cries father, panting and
wiping his bald forehead. "What a stone! I can't budge it." He stoops
again, to conquer, if possible; but the great difficulty with father is,
that the water comes so near to his tucked-up trousers that he cannot
put forth his full strength without wetting them; and mother insists
that this must not be done. "Come, George and Fred, bring the pick-axe
and the iron lever, we _must_ have this fellow out, he's right in the
middle of the pool. Now, then, heave!"

The lads obey, and father straddles so fiercely that one leg slips down.

"Hah! _there_, you've done it now!" from mother.

"Well, my dear, it can't be helped," meekly, from father, who is
secretly glad, and prepares to root out the stone like a Hercules.
Jacky gets excited, and hopes the other leg will slip down and get wet,
too!

"Here, hand me the lever, George; you don't put enough force to it."
George obeys and grins. "Now then, once more, with will--ho! hi! hup!"
Father strains at the lever, which, not having been properly fixed,
slips, and he finds himself suddenly in a sitting posture, with the
water round his waist. As the cool element embraces his loins, he
"h-ah-ah!" gasps, as every bather knows how; but the shock to his system
is nothing compared with the aggravation to his feelings when he hears
the joyful yell of triumph that issues from the brazen lungs of his
youngest hope.

"Never mind, I'll work all the better now--come, let us be jolly, and
clear out the rest of th