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188 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
young bull, which he had tamed secretly and named Storm,' ran him close.
In the evening we made a kind of throne for their mother in the grotto, and she awarded the prizes with her usual graciousness. They each received something suitable, beginning with a new rifle for Fritz and ending with a paint-box for Francis.
Before the rainy season set in our cow gave birth to a little calf, and the onagra delighted us by presenting us with a dainty little foal. It was obvious that we must take especial care of these young things during the wet weather that was fast approaching.
The rains had already commenced ; several times we had been visited by heavy showers. By degrees the horizon became covered with thick clouds, the winds swept fearfully along the coast, the waves rose, and for the space of fifteen days we were witnesses of a scene of majesty and terrific grandeur. Nature seemed overturned, the trees bent to the terrible blasts, the lightning and the thunder were mingled with the wind and the rain. It seemed to us that the storm of last year had been nothing in comparison with it.
Nevertheless, the winds fell, the rain poured |
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