CHILDREN OF MY TRAIL SCHOOL 157 



of this warlike and numerous tribe. This was 

 never settled, for suddenly a big grasshopper with 

 black and yellow wings entered the nation from the 

 outside. He alighted for only a moment and then 

 flew away again. The opinion was about equally 

 divided as to whether he should be counted as one 

 of the inhabitants or an invader. 



At this stage someone broke the news that it was 

 already too late for us to reach home for lunch. So 

 intense had been the interest that we had forgotten 

 even to keep track of mealtime. Two likely boys 

 were sent out to forage for rations, with suggestions 

 that they go to the kitchen and procure supplies 

 enough to prevent starvation among the explorers 

 until night, and return by the shortest route. 



While we were eating merrily round a camp-fire 

 by the brook a wasp and a fly engaged in a struggle 

 on a miountainside. The top of the mountain was 

 no higher than the knee of the boy who stood by it. 

 When this life-and-death struggle ended by the 

 contestants falling over a precipice thousands of 

 feet below, everyone concluded it was time to go 

 home. 



That evening these excited and enthusiastic boys 

 and girls related the day's experience to any one 

 who would listen. They had been explorers in a 

 wilderness, had camped by mighty rivers, had 

 seen wild animals and strange nations. Their 

 imaginations were on fire. This world had become 

 an inexhaustible wonderland. 



