66 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



in the shape of a chip, and then patiently wait 

 the two or three weeks necessary before I should 

 hail the arisen Oliver in the guise of a beetle. 



But I dug and dug and still no Oliver ap- 

 peared. I think I can safely say that seldom 

 since the days of my mud-pie infancy have my 

 hands been so encased in mud as on the day of 

 my dig after Oliver, I crumbled the wet earth 

 till at last I reached the bottom of the basin, and 

 yet I had found nothing of the one of whom I 

 was in search. But, alas ! I had found something 

 else. It was some secret holes that I had for- 

 gotten, the holes that in stationary basins lead to 

 the overflow pipe. If Oliver found those holes 

 there can be no doubt that he managed to squeeze 

 himself through and depart down the pipe to the 

 outer world. In despair I replaced his lake, and 

 tied on his mosquito -bar. I left his dish full of 

 water, that if the wanderer returned he might 

 find a place in which to swim, but my heart told 

 me that I should never behold Oliver again. On 

 mature consideration I came to the conclusion that 

 Oliver slipped under the mosquito -bar someway 

 instead of going down the overflow pipe. 



About this time also perished the Scarer of 

 Soap - Dish - Lid Lake. His name was given 

 him because his pond was formed of a soap-dish 

 lid turned wrong side up, and he scared every 

 polliwog that visited him. The cause of the 

 Scarer's death was the exuberance of Sol's rays. 



