shirt.

"On the floor," she said then.

I tried, but of course the lead broke. They all gathered round, much
interested, pushing their shiny black heads close together. It's funny
that they all have just the same sort of hair, isn't it? They followed
everything I did with the deepest interest, and then went into fits of
laughter, and so did we.

Just then a boy came in, not much older than me. He had on very few
clothes, and his legs looked as if they were stained dark blue. When he
came near to me and saw me looking at them with very much interest he
showed them to us. They were tattooed all over like a pair of breeches,
and the pictures on them were very well done; there were tigers and a
kind of dragon, like those we saw at the pagoda steps, and many other
animals, and each one was in a kind of scrollwork which made a little
frame. He spoke a few words of English and pointed at the two men and
said, "Them too," then, "All Burmans." It is odd they should go through
all that pain; what's the use of it?

[Illustration: THEY WERE TATTOOED ALL OVER LIKE A PAIR OF BREECHES.]

I tried to explain to him about the ship. I called it "ship," "steamer,"
"vessel," "craft," and everything else I could think of, but he shook
his head. At last Joyce suggested "big boat," and then he understood,
and got quite excited and told the others. Partly by gestures he made us
understand that we were a very long way off, and that no one could take
us back that night, but that we could go early in the morning. I wanted
to know why not now, but he waved his arms and said, "Nats, beloos," and
looked quickly over his shoulder.

"Nats are spirits," said Joyce. "I know all about it. The Burmese are
frightened of them, and put little bits of rag at the top of the posts
in the houses for them to live in, so that they won't come inside.
Mother read that to me out of a book."

We looked for the little rags, but couldn't see them, though I expect
they were there. Joyce knows a lot for a girl.

Well, we couldn't go home by ourselves, so presently we lay down on our
mats and went fast asleep, and I suppose everyone else did too. Anyway,
it was morning when I woke. Perfectly glorious it was! I shall never
forget that morning. Joyce was out on the verandah already, and I went
and stood beside her. The moon was there still, but every moment growing
paler and paler. The air was full of that burnt-wood smell which is
clean and rather nice. The sun see