We
only wished for you all. Madame Mimi made mamma lie down on the
bear-skin, and prepared her a pleasant beverage from the milk of the
cocoa-nut. Sophia and Matilda took me to gather strawberries, and figs,
and beautiful flowers; and we caught fish in the brook, between two
osier hurdles. We amused ourselves very well with Minou-minou, while
Canda and Madame Emily amused mamma.
"The king came the next day to see his little favourite; he wished me to
go with him to another part of the island, where he often went to hunt;
but I would not leave mamma and my new friends. I was wrong, papa; for
you were there, and my brothers; it was there Jack was wounded and
brought away. I might have prevented all that, and you would then have
returned to us. How sorry I have been for my obstinacy! It was I, more
than Fritz, who was the cause of his being wounded.
"Bara-ourou returned in the evening to the grotto; and think, papa, of
our surprise, our delight, and our distress, when he brought us poor
Jack, wounded and in great pain, but still all joy at finding us again!
The king told Mr. Willis he was sure Jack was my brother, and he made us
a present of him, adding, that he gave him in exchange for mamma's
handkerchief. Mamma thanked him earnestly, and placed Jack beside her.
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