He writes with his knees stuck up to form a writing-desk , and he always frowns fiercely the whole time . Dan , like Peter , writes lying down flat , but with his back towards us ; and he has a dismal habit of groaning aloud , writhing his whole body , and digging his toes into the grass , when he can not turn a sentence to suit him . Sara Ray is at his left . There is seldom anything to be said of Sara except to tell where she is . Like Tennyson 's Maud , in one respect at least , Sara is splendidly null . Well , there we sit and write in our dream books , and Uncle Roger passes by and accuses us of being up to dev -- to very bad mischief . Each of us was very anxious to possess the most exciting record ; but we were an honourable little crew , and I do not think anything was ever written down in those dream books which had not really been dreamed . We had expected that the Story Girl would eclipse us all in the matter of dreams ; but , at least in the beginning , her dreams were no more remarkable than those of the rest of us . In dreamland we were all equal . Cecily , indeed , seemed to have the most decided talent for dramatic dreams . That meekest and mildest of girls was in the habit of dreaming truly terrible things . Almost every night battle , murder , or sudden death played some part in her visions . On the other hand , Dan , who was a somewhat truculent fellow , addicted to the perusal of lurid dime novels which he borrowed from the other boys in school , dreamed dreams of such a peaceful and pastoral character that he was quite disgusted with the resulting tame pages of his dream book . But if the Story Girl could not dream anything more wonderful than the rest of us , she scored when it came to the telling . To hear her tell a dream was as good -- or as bad -- as dreaming it yourself . As far as writing them down was concerned , I believe that I , Beverley King , carried off the palm . I was considered to possess a pretty knack of composition . But the Story Girl went me one better even there , because , having inherited something of her father 's talent for drawing , she illustrated her dreams with sketches that certainly caught the spirit of them , whatever might be said of their technical excellence . She had an especial knack for drawing monstrosities ; and I vividly recall the picture of an enormous and hideous lizard , looking like a reptile of the pterodactyl period , which she had dreamed of seeing crawl across the roof of the house . On another occasion she had a frightful dream -- at least , it seemed frightful while she told us and described the dreadful feeling it had given her -- of being chased around the parlour by the ottoman , which made faces at her .
She drew a picture of the grimacing ottoman on the margin of her dream book which so scared Sara XXXXX when she beheld it that she cried all the way home , and insisted on sleeping that night with Judy Pineau lest the furniture take to pursuing her also .
Dan Maud Ray Roger dreamland left monstrosities murder night reptile