ree in full bloom.

"I wonder if Father will have a garden like this at Hammerville?" he
muttered to himself, with a keen pleasure in all the riot of blossom
that was to be seen from his sofa, and then he lay quite still trying to
make some verses about the garden, and at the same time wondering lazily
what the others were doing, until he fell asleep and did not wake until
milking time. He felt so much better then, and he was so furiously
hungry, that he decided to go on a voyage of discovery to see for
himself what the outside of his haven of refuge was like.

The yard outside was a scene of pretty lively activity. The cows were
just being fastened for milking, that is to say they were tied by the
head, each one to her stall, and then the hind leg was strapped so that
there could be no danger of the animal kicking the pail over.

There were several people moving about, and just at first Rumple did not
see his hostess; but presently he heard a shrill voice cry out: "Mother,
there is the little boy out and running about!"

Rumple felt considerably ruffled by this remark, which was not strictly
true, for he was not really a little boy now, at least not compared with
Don and Billykins, and he certainly could not be accused of running
about when he was merely leaning against the garden fence and looking
into the cowyard.

Then the elderly woman detached herself from a group of cows and came
bustling up to the fence, exclaiming at sight of him: "Well, well, you
look a sight better than before you went to sleep. How are you feeling
now, dear?"

"I am dreadfully hungry," admitted Rumple, looking up into her kindly
face with a smile, and thinking how much better she would look if she
did her hair like Nealie, instead of dragging it into a knot at the back
of her head; but really her face was so kind that her hair did not
matter very much either way.

"Hungry are you? That is right. Here, come into the kitchen with me and
have something to eat straight away, for we shan't have supper until the
milking is done and the creatures seen to for the night. It will take
another hour or more, and you have had no dinner."

Rumple followed his hostess into the kitchen, which was canvas-walled
like the best parlour, but many sizes larger and so much more
comfortable that Rumple decided it looked really beautiful, while the
smell of new-baked bread and cakes made a fragrance very delightful to a
hungry boy.

There was a wood fire