heavy, hot, hairy hides on them. If you drew the snake and egg,
and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and
found that it meant I was to help Mummy hang the two hides on the
drying-poles, what would I do?'

'You'd be cross. So'd Mummy. We must make a new picture for sho.
We must draw a spotty snake that hisses sh-sh, and we'll play
that the plain snake only hisses ssss.'

'I couldn't be sure how to put in the spots,' said Taffy. 'And
p'raps if you were in a hurry you might leave them out, and I'd
think it was so when it was sho, and then Mummy would catch me
just the same. No! I think we'd better draw a picture of the
horrid high drying-poles their very selves, and make quite sure.
I'll put them in just after the hissy-snake. Look!' And she
drew this. (10.)

'P'raps that's safest. It's very like our drying-poles, anyhow,'
said her Daddy, laughing. 'Now I'll make a new noise with a
snake and drying-pole sound in it. I'll say shi. That's Tegumai
for spear, Taffy.' And he laughed.

'Don't make fun of me,' said Taffy, as she thought of her
picture-letter and the mud in the Stranger-man's hair. 'You draw
it, Daddy.'

'We won't have beavers or hills this time, eh?' said her Daddy,
'I'll just draw a straight line for my spear.' and he drew this.
(11.)