Jack deposited his load in a corner, and
ran out; we soon saw him return with a huge screw-machine on his head,
which he placed before Ernest, saying, with an air of respect,--
"I have the honour to bring for his Highness the Prince of the Idle
Penguins, the press for his august plants, which his Highness doubtless
found too heavy; and, truly, it is no little weight."
Ernest did not know whether to thank him or to be angry, but he decided
to join in the jest, and, therefore, answered gravely that he was
distressed that his Highness the Prince of the Monkeys should have taken
so much trouble to oblige him, that he ought to have employed some of
his docile subjects to do it; after all, he confessed that the press,
which he had not noticed, gave him great pleasure, and he placed some
plants in it immediately, which he had collected the evening before.
The rain ceasing for a short time, I went with Fritz and Jack to examine
our embankment, and to open the sluices of the pond. We found all right,
and our garden looking beautiful after the rain. On our return, we
looked in at the _Grotto Ernestine,_ which we found inundated from the
opening above. We proposed to make a trench, or little channel, to carry
off the rain-water from it. We returned home, and retired to bed, in
hopes of being able to set out next morning.
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