388 FOUR-FOOTED A3IEEICANS 



" Uncle says he will read to us, but we can't have 

 the Audubon animal books or any of the others to hold 

 in our hands or look at, for fear the measles should hide 

 in between the leaves to steal a ride, and pop out and 

 visit somebody else." 



The children beliaved very well. Dodo was a little 

 fidgety at first and couldn't bear to look at her speckled 

 hands, and, as gloves pinched, insisted upon having 

 stockings pulled over them and fastened at the shoul- 

 ders. Nat laughed until he ci'ied when he saw her 

 sitting up in bed trying to feed herself. 



"O Dodo!" he gasped, "you look exactl}^ like the 

 picture of the Manatee fanning his food into his mouth 

 witli his flippers ! " 



A week passed, and the children were sitting up by 

 the fire playing checkers with a board ruled on a box 

 cover, and black and white bone buttons for men, when 

 they heard Doctor Roy's voice saying, " It was hanging 

 upside down to the roof in the far end of the root 

 cellar, so I fetched it for the youngsters ; thought it 

 might please 'em ! " 



" I wonder what it is," said Nat. " It must be a 

 cocoon." 



Then the Doctor came in carrying a board covered 

 with a wire cheese screen. "Here is a visitor that you 

 will be very glad to see, and who will not be afraid of 

 the measles. Let me introduce you to Vespertilio subu- 

 h'ltus, — the little Brown Bat who had hung himself up 

 for the winter sleep, but, as you see, he is now quite 

 wide awake and ready to bite my finger, though the 

 light confuses him so that he is trying to find a dark 

 corner of the board to hide in." 



