by their appearance; “they are but half-grown, and I hoped to maintain them in seclusion, until they reached full size, when I would have introduced them with proper éclat. But since their talent for music has brought them precociously into public notice, I must beg for your kind and indulgent patronage, and—leave to take them back to the swamp!”
Great clapping of hands followed Jack's speech.
“Grace” and “Beauty” were examined, and commented on with much interest, and voted decidedly handsome “in their way.”
Their general colour was greenish brown, mottled and spotted with reddish brown, and yellow; the sides green and black; the under part yellow mottled with orange. The eyes were positively beautiful, of a rich chestnut hue, covered with golden white dots, which shone with a metallic lustre. The skin of the body was puckered into longitudinal folds.
By general consent they were remanded to the swamp.
Shortly after our return to Rockburg, my wife drew my attention to the somewhat neglected state of our dear old summer residence at Falconhurst, begging me to devote some time to its restoration and embellishment.
This I most willingly undertook, and we removed thither, as soon as the boys had completed the arrangement of the artificial saltlick to their satisfaction.
At Falconhurst things were quickly in good order, and we made a great improvement by completing the broad terrace supported on the arching roots of the trees,—it was better floored,—and rustic pillars and trellis-work sustained a bark roof which afforded a pleasant shade.
After this was done, I was compelled to consent to a plan long cherished by Fritz, who wished to construct a watch-tower and mount a gun on Shark Island. After great exertion, both mental and bodily, this piece of military engineering was completed;
