lay floating in the water, asleep in the sun. The children gave a
great shout and woke up the river horses, as they called them. The
animals opened their big mouths;--and the snorts, grunts, yawns! Thorn
had never heard anything like it.

"What big teeth they have," he said.

"Yes, and just to eat grass," said another boy.

And soon some of the great rough things dived and came up with their
mouths full of reeds.

A little farther along, Thorn saw beavers at work on the bank. They
were carrying birch branches down to their homes beneath the little
round mounds. And once in a while a water rat or snake swam across the
river. Farther on, a flock of white swans floated. Their wings were
raised a little, and their shadows floated with them.

[Illustration: Flock of white swans]

The children stopped to watch them.

"Pretty!" they said. "Swans and shadow swans!"

So laughing and playing and seeing strange and beautiful things, Thorn
walked a long way with the children. At last, far off, he saw a long
purple line.

"That is the sea," Periwinkle told him.