152 BEYOND THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

so disgracefully, but as no one in Mrs. Discipline’s house cared in the
least what he thought, he saw nothing for it but to turn to and make
some porridge as best he could.

He found the jar where the meal was kept, and poured some into
the pot of boiling water. He then tried to stir it round, as he had so
often seen his mother and his sisters do, but the water bubbled up
and burnt his hands, and the meal was full of lumps and would not
swell out smoothly and nicely—some of it stuck to the bottom of the
pot too, and became burnt.

Altogether, the badly-cooked porridge was anything but nice to
eat, but real. positive hunger is an excellent sauce, and Buttercup ate
the nasty supper without a word of complaint.

When he had done, Mrs. Discipline came in.

“Oh, what a disgraceful smell of burning!” she exclaimed. “You
have burnt that porridge. You can’t go to bed until you have
cleaned out the pot. You must get sand to clean it. Go and find
some immediately.”

‘“¢T don’t know where to look for it,” said Buttercup.

“T cannot help you; I can only say that I know for certain there
is none in the house.”

“ Well, then, I can’t clean that horrid pot to-night!” said Butter-
cup. ‘‘I’d get lost out in the snow looking for sand, and even if I
weren’t lost, I’m very apt to take cold; so of course I can’t clean the
pot until the morning.”

“You have to clean it before you go to bed,” said Mrs. Discipline.
“ Tt is not of the least consequence to me whether you get lost in the
snow or whether you catch cold, but I am not going to have my
handsome pot injured, so you'll just have the goodness to find some
sand and take that burnt patch off it.”

Poor little Buttercup felt perfectly wretched.

“T do think you are cruel!” he said. “I am sure the King of
the Country beyond the Blue Mountains doesn’t wish me to stay long
with you. Ill just run away, for I can’t bear you—I can’t!”

“You can run away if you like,’ said Mrs. Discipline in her
calmest voice. ‘I promise you one thing, that I shall take no steps

Tipe