Moses Wopp, not quite reconciled to this unexpected order of things, as it seemed to involve a fast for his already clamoring stomach, nevertheless made haste to obey his father’s instructions. Josh and Jake were quickly unhitched and led into the stable. They were accommodated with a mangerful of hay, which they immediately fell to . Moses then ran after Mr. Wopp and Clarence, who were already busily searching the wooded banks of the , the underbrush, which in some places was exceedingly and . Within the next half-hour they were joined by four other men, despatched by Mrs. Mifsud, and the whole party proceeded slowly and carefully down the creek, some one of the number occasionally shouting the name of the lost boy.  
While this search was being carried on, those left in the house were in no cheerful mood. They all repaired to the kitchen, as the windows there afforded a view of the path leading to the creek. Each lady in her own way tried to bring comfort and to the worried mother. Mrs. Bliggins gave a long account of the loss of her cousin, Mrs. Snoop’s husband, at sea. Mr. Augustus Snoop, it , had sailed away one summer morning on the good ship “Wanderer,” with Australia as his goal. The story was somewhat elliptical, but the hearers could gather that before Mr. Snoop’s departure there had been a huge caldron of trouble on the domestic . Unfortunately, the ship in which Mr. Snoop sailed had after many weeks been reported missing, and Mrs. Snoop had donned sombre garments in honor of the departed. She had found some slight consolation in telling her friends of her late husband’s many excellent qualities and of his unrivalled devotion to her. She would wipe away the tears with her black-bordered handkerchief as she recounted how her dear Augustus had been so careful and considerate of her and had even been known to turn the clothes-wringer for her. True, she had taken in washing for some years to keep the family filled, but her dear husband had felt so much concerned about it that during that whole time he had not been equal to doing any work himself. The sorrowing widow had felt certain that from his home of heavenly the loving Augustus, whenever he could be spared from his other duties, was daily and hourly watching his adored wife now living but peacefully on his life insurance money.
 
Then one day, after several years, a stranger had come to town with a startling story. He said that he had been a sailor on the “Wanderer,” when she had made her last voyage. The ship had been blown in a upon the rocky coast of a small island in the south seas. He with several others of the crew and a few passengers had managed to get to land and had been treated by the natives. A small trading-vessel which regularly visited the island had taken them off in the course of the next few weeks, but one of their number, a passenger named Snoop, had refused to leave. He had asserted he might as well be there as anywhere else. Later reports brought from the island by the crew of the trading-vessel had been to the effect that Mr. Snoop was leading a and peaceful existence. He was to several dusky and was so much and respected as the only possessor of a white skin on the island, that he was never expected to stir hand or foot in any way suggesting work.
 
Mrs. Snoop had been furious at this of her husband. But, after learning that the sailor had Mr. Snoop very as to appearance and , she had begun to doubt. “When she heard how Mr. Snoop let those heathen girls run after him an’ wait on him, Mrs. Mifsud,” recounted Mrs. Bliggins, “even lightin’ his pipe for him an’ puttin’ his hat on his head, she began to see things clear, an’ mark my words, she quit mournin’. She couldn’t do anything to Augustus, of course, but she sold her crape clothes and got some new bright ones, mostly red an’ yellow, just to show people how she felt. She made kindlin’ of the crayon picture of Augustus she had bought from a travellin’ agent. She said it was a cryin’ shame that Augustus Snoop, who had been brought up on two catechisms, the Mother’s an’ Shorter, afterwards joinin’ the Holy Rollers, should have taken up with those south sea trollops.”
 
Mrs. Bliggins’ came to an end. Though its application to the misfortune which dominated the minds of the little in Mrs. Mifsud’s kitchen was somewhat obscure, it served to cause a interest. Experiences so unusual and so complicated as those of Mr. Augustus Snoop were bound to be diverting.
 
Mrs. Mifsud, however, had seemingly heard not a word of the story. In her she forgot that Mrs. Wopp was decidedly in her conversation and otherwise hopelessly unfashionable; all these vanished from her mind, and leaning over on the ample , she wept . Mrs. Wopp patted her in a motherly way. “One touch o’ nater makes the world a-kin,” she whispered, “Hearten up, Mis’ Mifsud, Moses ’ll find yer little lamb. That boy seems slow, but all’s not gold that’s a-glitterin’. He’s shorely got a nose fer findin’ things. Our black carf got lost on the prairie one day an’ he found it arter everybody else hed giv’ up huntin’.”
 
Her anxiety somewhat for the moment, Mrs. Mifsud roused herself for the entertainment of her guests.
 
“I’m so sorry our afternoon has been spoiled,” she apologized. “While we wait we might as well have a cup of tea. Maria, the silver teapot with boiling water.”
 
The kettle which had been boiling itself for the last hour,............