'It's nothing naughty, is it,' Daisy asked, 'like the last time you
had that was rousingly good?'

Alice said 'Shish', and Oswald pretended not to hear.

'A precious treasure,' he said, 'has inadvertently been laid low in
the moat by one of us.'

'The rotten thing tumbled in by itself,' Dicky said.

Oswald waved his hand and said, 'Anyhow, it's there. It's our duty
to restore it to its sorrowing owners. I say, look here--we're
going to drag the moat.'

Everyone brightened up at this. It was our duty and it was
interesting too. This is very uncommon.

So we went out to where the orchard is, at the other side of the
moat. There were gooseberries and things on the bushes, but we did
not take any till we had asked if we might. Alice went and asked.
Mrs Pettigrew said, 'Law! I suppose so; you'd eat 'em anyhow,
leave or no leave.'

She little knows the honourable nature of the house of Bastable.
But she has much to learn.

The orchard slopes gently down to the dark waters of the moat. We
sat there in the sun and talked about dragging the moat, till Denny
said, 'How DO you drag moats?'