Archie’s Adventures.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue XIV, 6 October 1900, Page 662

Archie’s Adventures.

Archie had been sent to bed early that night for a punishment, because father had found him taking all the eggs from a hedge-sparrow’s nest in the garden. Father had told him how cruel it was to take the whole lot; but Archie was naughty, and said he “didn't care,” and. of course, father was obliged to send him to bed, and not let him have any dessert. It seemed to him that everybody was very unkind, and he was quite glad when he got to Slumberland, although the part of the country in which he found himself was not as pleasant as some places he had visited.

The whole country seemed deserted, but overhead several large birds floated in the air. Their plumage was very bright and beautiful, and, as Archie wandered on, he began to wish that he could get some of their eggs to add to his collection at home. He thought it would be just fine to be able to show them to his friend. Tommy Stoneman, whose collection was nearly as good as his.

Presently he came to a strange rocky mound, very high and very steep, and finishing in a sharp point. The gaily-hued birds were whirling round about it, and Archie thought that here he would be sure to find their

nests, and no doubt would soon possess the eggs he longed for. So he began to clamber up the hill—up and up, higher and higher—till the fields and the roads, and the sea and the ships seemed miles below him; but, though he hunted in every nook and cranny, he could not find a nest, much less an egg. “Perhaps I shall find a nest right at the top,” he said; “I have often heard that eagles, and dodos, and all sorts of big birds build right on the point of a hill.” And so he clambered to the top, when, to his great joy, he found himself standing in a. gigantic nest containing three huge eggs.

“Oh. what a find!” exclaimed Archie. He just managed to get one egg under each arm, they were so very large; and, while he was trying to think if he couldn’t possibly manage to take the third, he heard a. terrible roaring sound, and looking up in a fright, he saw a most awful dragon flying towards him. ’Twas a more terrible creature than he had ever dreamed of, and it was huge—so huge that it stretched for miles, and miles, and miles; and its roars were horrible to hear when it saw who was in its nest, for those were dragon’s eggs which Archie was stealing! Oh. how terrified Archie was, for it came nearer and nearer, and, opening its great mouth once again, it made a savage snap; and, with a wild yell, Archie sat bolt upright in his little bed, trembling from head to foot! His cry brought father quickly to his bedside, and, while the little boy clung to him in tearful sorrow, he whispered, between his sobs, “Oh. father. I promise I'll never take more than one egg out of the nest as long as I live.”