you go to sleep yourself a
little? We shall have more than enough of the forest before we are out
of it." Which offended Olive so much that she relapsed into silence.

Auntie was a truer prophet than she knew; for when they got to the
little hamlet in the wood, where they were to rest, something proved to
be wrong with one of the horse's shoes; _so_ wrong, indeed, that after a
prolonged examination, at which all the inhabitants turned out to
assist, it was decided that the horse must be re-shod before he could go
any farther; and this made it impossible for the party who had come in
the carriage to go any farther either. For the nearest smithy was two
miles off; the horse must be led there and back by the driver, which
would take at least two, if not three, hours. It was now past six, and
they had come barely half way. The driver shook his head, and said he
would not like to go on to the town till morning. The horse had pricked
his foot; it might cause inflammation to drive him farther without a
rest, and the carriage was far too heavy for the other horse alone,
which had suddenly struck the children's uncle as a brilliant idea.

"There would be no difficulty about the harnessing, any way," he said to
Auntie, laughing; "for all the vehicles hereabouts drawn by one horse
have the animal at one side of a pole, instead of between shafts."

But Auntie thought it better to give in.

"It really doesn't much matter," she said; "we can stay here well
enough. There are two bedrooms, and no doubt they can give us something
to eat; beer and sausages, and brown bread any way."

And so it was settled, greatly to Olive's satisfaction; it would give
her capital opportunities for a dwarf hunt! though as to this she kept
her own counsel.

The landlady of the little post-house where they had stopped was
accustomed to occasional visits of this kind from benighted or
distressed travellers. She thought nothing of turning her two daughters
out of their bedroom, which, it must be owned, was very clean, for
Auntie and Olive, and a second room on the ground-floor was prepared for
Rex and his uncle. She had coffee ready in five minutes, and promised
them a comfortable supper before bedtime. Altogether, everything seemed
very satisfactory, and when they felt a little refreshed, Auntie
proposed a walk--"a good long walk," she said, "would do us good. And
the landlady says we get out of the forest up there behind the house,
where the ground