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08 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight, building the dam. Even a hammer makes a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: good pillow if one is tired enough. And the freight
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: car family slept until the nine o'clock church bells began
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  Speaker 1: to ring faintly in the valley. There were at least
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  Speaker 1: a dozen churches, and their far away bells sounded sweetly
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  Speaker 1: harmonious in so many different keys they almost play a tune,
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  Speaker 1: said Violet as she listened. I like music, all right,
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  Speaker 1: replied Henry, in a business like way. But I've for
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  Speaker 1: one shall have to get to work. This will be
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  Speaker 1: a good day to wash all the stockings, said Jess.
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  Speaker 1: We'll all be waiting so much in the brook anyway.
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  Speaker 1: After breakfast, the first thing Henry did was to survey
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  Speaker 1: with critical eyes the spot they had chosen for a pool.
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  Speaker 1: It was a hollow about three yards across. There were
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  Speaker 1: no stones in it at all. It's big enough already,
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  Speaker 1: remarked Henry at last, But it hasn't enough water in it.
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  Speaker 1: He measured its depth with a stick. We'll have to
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  Speaker 1: guess at inches, he said. I have a little tape
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  Speaker 1: measure in my work bag, ventured his sister Violet. Henry
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  Speaker 1: flashed a smile at her. Is there anything you haven't
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  Speaker 1: got in your work bag, he asked her. The children
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  Speaker 1: measured the wet stick carefully. The water was just ten
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  Speaker 1: inches deep in the deepest part. Henry explained his plan
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  Speaker 1: of engineering to his sisters. We will have to haul
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  Speaker 1: some big logs across this narrow part and stuff them
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  Speaker 1: from this end with stones and underbrush. It ought to
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  Speaker 1: be three feet deep before we get through. Oh, Henry
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  Speaker 1: protested Jess. Benny would get drowned. Drowned, echoed Henry, How
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  Speaker 1: tall do you think he is? Anyhow, they measured the
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  Speaker 1: little boy and found him to be forty two inches tall.
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  Speaker 1: That settled it. The pool was designed to be three
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  Speaker 1: feet in depth. Luckily, the largest logs were not far away,
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  Speaker 1: but as it was, it was a matter of great
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  Speaker 1: labor for the builders to drag them to the scene
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  Speaker 1: of operations. Let's get all the logs up here first,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: suggested Jess. Then we can have the fun of laying
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  Speaker 1: them across. The two older children dragged all the logs,
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  Speaker 1: while Violet and Benny attended to the stones with the
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  Speaker 1: help of the cart. Occasionally Henry was called upon to
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  Speaker 1: assist with a heavy stone, but for the most part,
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  Speaker 1: Benny puffed out his cheeks and heaved the stones himself.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, Henry decided at this point to let Benny
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  Speaker 1: drop them into the water. As he gathered them splash
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  Speaker 1: him right in old fellow, he directed, Only keep them
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  Speaker 1: in a nice straight line right across this place, between
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  Speaker 1: these two trees. It won't make any difference how wet
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  Speaker 1: he gets. He added, in an aside to Jess, we
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  Speaker 1: can dry him in the sun. Jess thought a little differently,
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  Speaker 1: although she said nothing. She took off Benny's little crinkled
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  Speaker 1: blouse and one pair of bloomers and started to hang
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  Speaker 1: them on the line. Good time to wash them, she exclaimed.
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  Speaker 1: Let me wash them, begged, Violet, you're more useful building
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  Speaker 1: the dam. There was wisdom in this suggestion, so Jess
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  Speaker 1: accepted it gratefully, and even added Henry's blouse to the laundry.
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  Speaker 1: When we finish the damp, they will surely be dry,
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  Speaker 1: she said. As for Henry, he was only too glad
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  Speaker 1: to work without. It makes me feel lighter, he declared.
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  Speaker 1: Rare and beautiful birds came and watched the barefooted children
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  Speaker 1: as they scurried around building their wall of masonry. But
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  Speaker 1: the children did not have any eyes for birds. Then
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  Speaker 1: they watched with delighted eyes as each stone was added
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  Speaker 1: to the wall under the clear water, and it began
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  Speaker 1: to rise almost to the surface. That makes a solid
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  Speaker 1: foundation for the logs, you see, explained Henry with pride.
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  Speaker 1: They won't be floating off downstream the minute we lay
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  Speaker 1: them on. Then, at last the time arrived when they
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  Speaker 1: were to lay the logs on. Let's wait, which the
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  Speaker 1: first one between these two trees, said Jess with a
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  Speaker 1: happy thought. Then if each end of the log is
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  Speaker 1: on the upper side of the trees, the harder the
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  Speaker 1: water pounds, the tighter the dam gets. Good work, exclaimed
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  Speaker 1: Henry admiringly. That's just what we'll do. But the children
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  Speaker 1: were not at all prepared for what happened. The moment
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  Speaker 1: the first big log was splashed into its place on
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  Speaker 1: top of the stone wall, the water defeated in its
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  Speaker 1: course down the rocky bed, gurgled and chased about as
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  Speaker 1: it met the opposing log, and found every possible hole
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  Speaker 1: to escape leaks, said Henry briefly, as the water began
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  Speaker 1: to rush around both ends and pour over the top
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  Speaker 1: of the log. We'll make the logs so thick it
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  Speaker 1: can't get through. We'll lay three logs across, with three
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  Speaker 1: logs on top of them, and three more on top
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  Speaker 1: of that. The children set about stubbornly to accomplish this.
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  Speaker 1: Violet held great sprays of fine underbrush in place until
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  Speaker 1: each log was laid. Wetter children never were seen, but
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  Speaker 1: nobody cared. They resolutely plugged the ends with more stones,
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  Speaker 1: more underbrush, and more logs. Each time a leak was discovered,
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  Speaker 1: some one dropped a stone over it. Even bennicought the
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  Speaker 1: fever of conquering the mischievous water, which slipped from their
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  Speaker 1: grasp like quicksilver. When the three top logs were at
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  Speaker 1: last dropped into place, the excited children sat down to
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  Speaker 1: watch the pool fill. This it did, slowly, finding now
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  Speaker 1: no means of exit. The water was quieter, It rose
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  Speaker 1: steadily up the barricade of logs. It widened beautifully. Henry
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  Speaker 1: could not sit still its slopes. He cried, see how
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  Speaker 1: clear it is, and still, see how still it is.
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  Speaker 1: And then the water began to overflow the logs. It
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  Speaker 1: spilled over the top with a delightful curve, and on
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  Speaker 1: the other side it formed a second waterfall, not high
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  Speaker 1: and narrow and graceful like the natural fall above, but
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  Speaker 1: very low and wide, just like a regular mill dam,
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  Speaker 1: said Henry. He held the measuring stick out as far
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  Speaker 1: as he could and plunged it into the water. It
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  Speaker 1: lacked an inch of being three feet deep, deep enough,
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  Speaker 1: he declared. In fact, it looked so deep that Benny
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  Speaker 1: could not conceal a slight fear. That's the beauty of
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  Speaker 1: the slope, observed Jess. Benny can wait in just as
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  Speaker 1: far as he wants to, and no farther. We all
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  Speaker 1: know what the bed of the pool is like, no
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  Speaker 1: holes or stones. The girls had to leave to prepare supper,
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  Speaker 1: but Henry could not be persuaded to leave the wonderful
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  Speaker 1: swimming pool. I'd rather swim than eat, he said. Luckily
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  Speaker 1: for the children, their supply of provisions was the largest
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  Speaker 1: of any day since their flight. The girls lighted the
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  Speaker 1: fire and heated up the remainder of the stew and
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  Speaker 1: cut the bread. The butter, hard and cold in the refrigerator,
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  Speaker 1: was taken out and four portions cut from it. The
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  Speaker 1: two doughnuts made four half rings for dessert. The cooks
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  Speaker 1: rang the dinner bell. This was an ingenious arrangement hung
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  Speaker 1: on a low branch. It consisted of a piece of
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  Speaker 1: bent steel swung on a string. Violet hit it sharply
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  Speaker 1: with another piece of steel. It sounded deeply and musically
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  Speaker 1: through the woods, and the boys understood it and obeyed
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  Speaker 1: at once. It was evident the moment they appeared that
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  Speaker 1: at least three of the family had been swimming. Watch
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  Speaker 1: shook himself violently at intervals, spattering water drops in all directions.
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  Speaker 1: Henry and Benny, fresh and radiant with plastered hair and
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  Speaker 1: clean dry stockings and blouses, apparently liked to swim and
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  Speaker 1: eat too. You can actually swim a few strokes in it, Jess,
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  Speaker 1: if you're careful, Henry said, with excusable pride, as he
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  Speaker 1: sat down to dinner. Building a dam is wonderful sauce
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  Speaker 1: for a dinner. I think stew is much better. This
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  Speaker 1: second day observed Benny eating hungrily. There remained two more
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  Speaker 1: adventures for the eventful day. The girls cut their hair.
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  Speaker 1: Violet's dark curls came off first. They're awfully in the way,
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  Speaker 1: explained Violet, and so much trouble when you're working. They
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  Speaker 1: were tangled too, and Jess cut them off evenly by
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  Speaker 1: a string with Violet's little scissors. Jess's chestnut hair was
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  Speaker 1: long and silky and nicely braided, but she never murmured
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  Speaker 1: as it came off to The two girls ran to
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  Speaker 1: the brook mirror to see how they looked. The new
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  Speaker 1: hair cut was very becoming to both. I like you
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  Speaker 1: better that way, said Henry, approvingly. Lots more sensible when
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  Speaker 1: you're living in the woods. Around four o'clock, the children
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  Speaker 1: took a long walk in the opposite direction from any
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  Speaker 1: of their other explorations. They were rewarded by two discoveries.
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  Speaker 1: One was a hollow tree literally filled with walnuts, gathered
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  Speaker 1: presumably by a thrifty squirrel the previous fall. The other
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  Speaker 1: discovery frightened them a little, just at first, for with
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  Speaker 1: bristling back and a loud bark, Watch suddenly began to
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  Speaker 1: rout out something in the leaves, and that something began
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  Speaker 1: to cackle and half run and half fly from the intruders.
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  Speaker 1: It was a runaway hen The children succeeded in catching
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  Speaker 1: the dog and reducing him to order, although it was
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  Speaker 1: clear he liked very much to chase hens. She had
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  Speaker 1: some eggs, too, remarked Benny, as if trying to make
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  Speaker 1: pleasant conversation. Jess bent over incredulously and saw a rude
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  Speaker 1: nest in the moss, in which there were five eggs,
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  Speaker 1: a runaway hen said Henry, hardly believing his eyes. She
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  Speaker 1: wants to hide her nest and raise chickens. The children
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  Speaker 1: had no scruples at all about taking the eggs. Almost
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  Speaker 1: a gift from Heaven, said Violet, stroking one of the
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  Speaker 1: eggs with a delicate finger. It wouldn't be polite to
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  Speaker 1: refuse them. Scrambled eggs made a delicious supper for the children.
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  Speaker 1: Jess broke all the eggs into the biggest bowl and
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  Speaker 1: beat them vigorously with a spoon until they were light
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  Speaker 1: and foamy. Then she added milk and salt and delegated
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  Speaker 1: Violet to beat them some more while she prepared the fire.
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  Speaker 1: The big kettle, empty and clean, was hung over the
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  Speaker 1: low fire, and butter was dropped in. Jess watched it anxiously,
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  Speaker 1: tipping the kettle slightly in all directions. When the butter
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  Speaker 1: had reached the exact shade of brown, Jess poured in
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  Speaker 1: the eggs and stirred them carefully, holding her skirts away
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  Speaker 1: from the fire. She was amply repaid for her care
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  Speaker 1: when she saw her family attack the meal. Clearly this
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  Speaker 1: was a feast day. We shall have to be satisfied
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow to live on bread and milk, she observed, scraping
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  Speaker 1: up the last delicious morsel. But when tomorrow came, they
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  Speaker 1: had more than bread and milk, as you will soon
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  Speaker 1: see end of chapter eight.