But if I don't wink my eyes sometimes they'll begin
to smart and get full of tears, and then I won't be able to see
anything--and then all the keeping still will be just wasted."
"Of course, you won't be able to keep from winking," agreed Uncle Andy.
"And, of course, you won't be able to keep from _breathing_. But you
mustn't make a noise about either process."
"How can I make a noise winking?" demanded the Child in a voice of
eager surprise. If such a thing were possible he wanted to learn how
at once.
"Oh, nonsense!" returned Uncle Andy. "Now, listen to me! We're nearly
there, and I don't want to have to do any more talking, because the
quieter we are now the sooner the wild folk will get over their first
suspiciousness. Now, after we once get fixed, you won't move a muscle,
not even if two or three mosquitoes alight on you at once and begin to
help themselves?"
"No!" agreed the Child confidently. He was accustomed to letting
mosquitoes bite him, just for the fun of seeing their gray, scrawny
bodies swell up and redden till they looked like rubies.
"Well, we'll hope there won't be any mosquitoes!" said Uncle Andy
reassuringly. "And if a yellow-jacket lights on your sock and starts
to crawl up under the leg of your knickers, you won't stir?"
"N-no!" agreed the Child, with somewhat less confidence.
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