Just as the girls were thinking what they should do for the night in case they were obliged to remain in this place, they heard a little shout, and their eyes were gladdened by the welcome sight of the rabbit-skin, and trailing behind the elf was a large bunch of flax.

He came slowly towards them, and flung the flax at their feet, saying, "I have had hard work to get this, I can tell you; this is something we have nothing to do with, and I have robbed a garden for it."

"Oh, how could you be so wicked?" exclaimed Laura.

The elf made one of his strange grimaces, and stood on his head a moment.

"So you call that wicked, do you?"

"Yes; robbing is very wicked."

"If I planted ever so much catnip in its place, what do you call that?"

"Oh, that was all fair, I suppose."

"Well, don't suppose anything more about it, but just go to work, if you want your stick."

At this Kathie began to plait most diligently, and Laura, finding a bit of blue ribbon somewhere about her dress, tied the end of the long braid with it. The elf watched them closely—his little black beady eyes following every movement of Kathie's dexterous fingers, while Laura held the flax. When it was finished, Laura proposed fastening it in the elf's cap as the easiest way for him to wear it, and then when he chose he could lay it aside. This suited exactly, and the little furry rabbit's head was soon adorned with this peculiar ornament. When the elf put it on he gave a shout of glee, but afterwards became very grave—whether the weight oppressed him, or whether he remembered that Chinese sedateness and dignity would be appropriate, cannot be determined; but Laura and Kathie both assured him he looked very grand.

"And now," said Laura, "please be so good, Mr. Elf, as to give me my staff, for we have a long way to go, and have lost much time."

The elf at this request began his queer capers again, but finding the long queue very much in his way, stopped short, and asked Laura why she could not stay awhile in the woods with him, and said that he would get her more honey, and find her the prettiest red cup-moss and maidenhair ferns she had ever seen. Laura declined very resolutely, saying that the Motherkin and Grim had charged her not to delay.

Then the elf made hideous faces, and blew a shrill whistle through his fingers, whereat a swarm of mosquitoes buzzed around the children most uncomfortably.

"Really, Mr. Elf," said Laura, brandishing her handkerchief wildly about to keep off the stinging insects, "I thought you were more of a gentleman than this. A Chinese mandarin would not vex us in this way. I have a pretty turquoise ring on my hand, which, if my staff were here, I might give you— But, oh! oh! how these things do bite! Come, Kathie, let us run," she added; and, seizing Kathie's hand, she started off.

"Hey! not so fast. Here is your staff. The ring! the ring! where is it?" called the elf.

"I cannot stay in that swarm of mosquitoes," replied Laura, still running; but the elf was quicker than she, and, leaping before her, threw her staff across her path. "Here is the ring," replied Laura; "and next time you meet any children, I hope you will be kinder to them than you have been to us."

"Oh, you are too stupid to have any fun. Just a little joke like that was nothing at all."

Laura made no answer, but, seizing her staff, she and Kathie hurried into the woods in search of a brook where they could bathe their swollen and disfigured faces. When they began their walk again, nothing was seen of the elf.

"I do hope we shall now have no more to hinder us, Kathie. See, I have tied my stick to my wrist."

"And we had better keep very quiet the rest of the way; for if we talk, the elves may hear us, and contrive something new to stop us."

"Quite right, Kathie. We'll play we are hunters in search of game, and not speak a word."

So on they went till again the twilight made it necessary for them to seek a place of repose for the night. An overhanging rock surrounded by low bushes seemed an inviting spot, especially as the staff did not withhold them from it. Kathie, more learned in woodland ways than Laura, broke down branches of hemlock, and made a fragrant and spicy bed; and then, too tired to do more than say their prayers, they both were asleep in a few moments.

It seemed to Laura that she had not been long asleep when something wakened her. What it was she knew not. There was a soft stir in the tree-tops, as if a light breeze were blowing—an occasional chirp from some bird which had been disturbed, perhaps by a dream that its eggs were broken; but otherwise all was still. Kathie was sleeping soundly, and Laura closed her own eyes again, but again was aroused, and this time by a cold something poking in her hand.