The yellow hen flew to the sands at once, but Dorothy had to climb over the high slats.
"But you eat the chickens that eat the bugs," retorted the yellow hen, with an odd cackle.
As for the yellow hen, she continued to peck away at the sand busily, and seemed quite contented with her bill-of-fare.
"'If nothing is added to the material facts so far established, I fear that the mystery which surrounds the abominable crime of which Mademoiselle Stangerson has been the victim will never be brought to light; but it is to be hoped, for the sake of our human reason, that the examination of the walls, and of the ceiling of The Yellow Room --an examination which I shall to-morrow intrust to the builder who constructed the pavilion four years ago--will afford us the proof that may not discourage us.
"The Yellow Room, the Bete Du Bon Dieu, Mother Angenoux, the Devil, Sainte-Genevieve, Daddy Jacques,--here is a well entangled crime which the stroke of a pickaxe in the wall may disentangle for us to-morrow.
"The yellow men of Barsoom!" ejaculated Thuvan Dihn, as though even now that he saw them he found it scarce possible to believe that the very race we expected to find hidden in this remote and inaccessible land did really exist.
Presently the object of his scrutiny came within the range of my vision and I saw that it was another yellow man.
The yellow men were armed with two swords, and a short javelin was slung across the back of each, while from their left arms hung cuplike shields no larger than a dinner plate, the concave sides of which turned outward toward an antagonist.
"Had Ojo told me that one of the things he sought was the wing of a
yellow butterfly I would have informed him, before he started out, that he could never secure it.
"Can't you see that Billina is my friend?" In spite of this warning had she not grabbed Toto quickly by the neck the little dog would have done the yellow hen a mischief, and even now he struggled madly to escape Dorothy's grasp.
"But I've such wonderful news for you, Dorothy," cried the yellow hen; "I've--"
"And this is Billina," continued Dorothy, introducing the yellow hen, and they all bowed to her in turn.
Yellow Handkerchief came up to me in a familiar manner, the water in the cockpit slushing against his legs.
The spirit of the Chinese was broken, and so docile did they become that ere we made San Rafael they were out with the tow-rope, Yellow Handkerchief at the head of the line.
I have taken care in choosing my
yellow plants to put down only those humble ones that are easily pleased and grateful for little, for my soil is by no means all that it might be, and to most plants the climate is rather trying.