Charley s Wonderful Journeys. 



235 



"But we don't live out west," said the 

 Hesperornis, " we live here. Who are you 

 anyway, and where do you live ? " 



"If you please, sir," said Charley, "I'm 

 a boy, and I live in the Nineteenth Cen- 

 tury." 



" The Nineteenth Century ! " exclaimed 

 the Hesperornis, " where's that?" 



" It's a long way off in the future," said 

 Charley, "birds with teeth never got as far 

 as that." 



" No, I'm sure they never did, nor ever 

 saw anybody like you before," said the 

 Hesperornis; "how did you get here?" 



" I think I must have lost a great deal of 

 time," said Charley, " I'm always losing 

 time and getting behind hand." 



There was silence for a minute or two, 

 which was broken by the Hesperornis who, 

 by way of changing the conversation, 

 asked, "What sort of eggs do you lay?" 



" If you please," said Charley, " folks 

 and animals don't lay eggs." 



" Don't lay eggs ! " said the Hesper- 

 ornis, astonished; "then where do the 

 young ones come from ? " 



"I don't know," said Charley, "it's only 

 the birds that lay eggs nowadays, the folks 

 and the animals are young first, and then 

 they grow up." 



"Yes, and sit on birds' eggs, and hatch 

 folks and animals ! Oh, I see it all now ! 

 Whatever could my wife have been think- 

 ing of to go off and let you sit on the eggs, 

 and get chickens with long arms and no 

 feathers or jaws ! Oh, I'll teach you." 



And with that he snapped his jaws and 

 rushed at Charley, who did not stand upon 

 the order of his going, but sprang up and 

 went so suddenly that he broke half the 

 eggs; then bounding over the nearest 

 mound he made tracks like the wind. 



At this moment Mrs. Hesperornis came 

 back with a fish in her jaws. She heard 

 her husband's voice in angry tones, and 

 made all the haste she could, and as she 

 reached the nest she saw him standing 



over it and looking at the eggs with speech- 

 less agony. She, too, took one glance, 

 which was enough; the next instant she 

 caught a glimpse of Charley bounding over 

 a mound; she dropped the fish, and shout- 

 ing " eggs," in a sharp, shrill tone, set out 

 after Charley at top speed, followed by her 

 husband and all her neighbors, who jumped 

 up from their nests and joined in the pur- 

 suit, shouting " eggs " at the top of their 

 voices. 



Charley ran like the wind, clearing 

 mound after mound in his flight. Many 

 of these mounds had nests on the top of 

 them, and the birds snapped at Charley's 

 legs as he flew over them, and then got up 

 and joined in the pursuit; but before long 

 Charley left the nesting ground far behind 

 him, and came out on to a broad, sandy 

 plain with groves of palm trees in the dis- 

 tance. The shouting now grew fainter 

 and fainter and finally died away altogether 

 as Charley neared one of the groves, which 

 he found was all of date palms; so he 

 climbed one of the trees and collected a 

 good supply of dates, and then climbed 

 down and had a good feed, slaking his 

 thirst at a crystal spring that rose in the 

 middle of the grove; then wearied of his 

 long journey he sat leaning his back against 

 one of the palm trees and soon fell fast 

 asleep. 



When he awoke the Ostrich was grazing 

 close at hand, but he looked around quick- 

 ly; Charley sat up, and advanced toward 

 him for a talk. 



- " If you please, can you tell me the way 

 home ? " said Charley. 



"Where do you live anyway?" asked the 

 Ostrich. 



" If you please, sir," said Charley, " I 

 live in the Nineteenth Century." 



" I never heard of such a place," said 

 the Ostrich, "but it must be somewhere on 

 the other side of the desert, and if you like 

 you can get up and ride as far as that." 



They rode on and on through the desert, 



