I
dipped it in water to clear off the mud, and to my surprise found a
queer little living creature, no bigger than half an apple, in my hand.
It was a small tortoise.
`A tortoise, I declare!' cried Fritz. `What a long way from the sea.
How came it here, I wonder?'
`Perhaps there has been a tortoise-shower,' remarked Ernest. `One
reads of frog-showers in the time of the ancient Romans.'
`Hollo, Professor! You're out for once,' said I. `This is nothing but a
mud-tortoise, which lives in wet, marshy ground and fresh water. They
are useful in gardens; for although they like a few lettuce leaves now
and then, they will destroy numbers of snails, grubs, and worms.'
Resuming our journey, we arrived at a charming valley, verdant,
fruitful, and shaded by clumps of graceful trees. It afforded us the
greatest delight and refreshment to pass along this cool and lovely
vale, which we agreed to call Glen Verdant.
In the distance we could see herds of antelopes or buffaloes feeding;
but as our dogs continually ranged a long way ahead of us, they were
quickly startled, and vanished up one or other of the narrow gorges
which opened out of the valley.
Following the imperceptible windings of the vale, we were surprised, on
quitting it for the more open ground, to find ourselves in country we
were already acquainted with, and not far from the Jackal Cave, as we
called the place where Fangs had been captured in cubhood.
Pages:
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383