let out of their pig-sty
unless he was at home to see that they did not get into mischief. The
poor goats did not at all approve of remaining prisoners so much of
their time; but really it seemed the only way of preventing them from
breaking bounds. The children did what they could to cheer their pets
in captivity by bringing them handfuls of cabbages and carrots at all
hours in the day, and Jack and Jill began to grow so fat that before
long it was to be hoped they would lose all taste for jumping.

CHAPTER XI.

CERTAIN LITTLE GARDENS.

It is wonderful how often grown-up people walk about the world with
their eyes shut. Captain West thought himself decidedly an observant
man. He was fond of his garden, and even worked in it for hours at a
time; but he never noticed that within his domain there were sundry
other little gardens, just as carefully tended, and exhibiting a much
greater ingenuity of arrangement than his own. For instance, there was
one within a few yards of the schoolroom window, just at the corner of
the house, under the laburnum-tree. Here Betty was working hard one
morning, when, having finished her lessons with unusual quickness, she
was allowed out of the schoolroom half an hour before the others.

A more unpromising site for a garden it would have been difficult to
imagine. All that the ordinary world saw were two stone slabs, that
had something to do with lighting a cellar below the house. But the
children had long ago discovered, that one stone being several inches
higher than the other, water poured on it would rush like a miniature
cascade to the lower level. This was by no means the only possibility
of amusement that the stones afforded. A large crack ran down the
centre of each, and these when properly blocked with mud at either end
made two admirable lakes. There were other smaller cracks, in which
the children from time to time planted a daisy or a laburnum seed.
Once or twice they had been known to grow, which was distinctly
encouraging.

This little pleasure-ground had lately suffered considerable neglect,
owing to the number of exciting events that had occurred. Besides,
when Madge was out of doors she liked larger and more energetic
amusements. But Betty was devoted to arranging her little garden in
new ways, and directly she found herself alone she began to work out a
scheme for beautifying it that she had long had in her head. The lakes
were carefully formed wi