152 The Catskill fairies.

Then Queen Puff grew quite red in the face, and was about
to reply, when the attention of all was diverted.

In Job’s picture-gallery there was a small print of an oasis
in the desert, where one slender palm-tree towered aloft, shad-
ing the well which afforded refreshment to a company of
Arabs and camels. This palm-tree began to rustle and sway
gently, as if disturbed by a breeze, as indeed it was—the breeze
of Nip’s influence.

“A great deal has been said about America this evening,”
said the tree. “Let me describe how the first cocoa-nut was

discovered,