38 CAROLINE.
The boys pull the boat up upon the land. Their warning.

over seemed to be very easily performed. When the boat
was thus turned upside down, one of the boys tied the
painter, that is, the rope fastened at the bows of the boat,
to a stake which was driven into the ground near by.

The boys went through all these operations in a hur-
ried manner, as if they were eager to get away, and as
soon as the boat was secured in the mode above described,
they all set off walking very rapidly up the cart-path into
the woods. The dog ran on before them. One of the
boys turned toward Caroline and her party as he went
along, and aftex hesitating a moment he called out to
them, saying,

“Tf you don’t look out you will get a wetting.”

He then went on, and in a moment more they all dis-
appeared.

“ What does he mean?” said Phonny.

“Tam sure I don’t know,” said. Caroline.

“Perhaps he means that it is going to rain,” suggested
Matleville.

Caroline looked wp to the sky. It happened, however,
that at the place where the children were sitting, but a
very small part of the sky could be seen. The part
which was visible was toward the east, which was the di-
rection in which the faces of the children were turned as
they sat in their grotto. The west was behind them, and
the whole sky in that direction was concealed by the
rocks and precipices, and by the lofty firs and pines which
overhung the place where the children were sitting.

There were no clouds to be seen in that part of the
sky which was open to their view. Caroline, however,
stepped out from under the rocks and looked upward
into the zenith. She saw a fringe of dark and angry-