FAIRY WELL AND PLOT OF GNOMES. 45

“That will do,” ordered the queen after a
while, and the obedient maids-in-waiting retired
to a respectful distance.

“Fly to the rover’s lake, watch for Wassa’s
coming, then acquaint me,” commanded the
blue dragon-fly, and away swarmed the gnats.

Then the brown beetle and the blue dragon-
fly heard a crackling among the dry twigs and
leaves, and in a moment the branches were

 

thrust aside, and a light form springing
through the opening stood on the shore of the
pond.

It was little Mona, the hunter’s child — the
brown beetle, slow as was his mind, had