Mrs.Bennett and Mrs.Arcane were in heart-rending distress.

The four children were crying for water but there was not a drop to give them, and none could be reached before some time next day.

The mothers were nearly crazy, for they expected the children would choke with thirst and die in their arms, and would rather perish themselves than suffer the agony of seeing their little ones gasp and slowly die.

They reproached themselves as being the cause of all this trouble.

For the love of gold they had left homes where hunger had never come, and often in sleep dreamed of the bounteous tables of their old homes only to be woefully disappointed in the morning.