When I was a child，I lived with my mother，my father having been away to work in the town. I was then not (11)______ nine years old，lonely and expectant， (12)______ for things which I knew little about. I walked out alone one morning along the mountain tops (13)______ my home stood. The sun had not yet risen，and the air (14)______ rain of the night and the mountain grass was heavy (15)______ tiny drops of water. As I looked back，I could see the marks my feet (16)______ on the long grassy slope behind me. I walked till I came to a place (17)______ a little stream ran into the deep valley below. Here it passed between soft， (18)______ banks；at one place a large slice of earth had fallen away from the bank on the other side，and it had made a little island a few feet wide with water (19)______ all round it. It was covered with a weed with yellow flowers and long waving grasses. I sat down on the bank (20)______ a short pine tree. All the plants on the island were dark with the heavy raindrops of the night，and the sun had not yet risen. (11)