ing, "don't you want to pay your fare--Alice is paying ours." He
slipped two dimes into her hand just as the conductor stepped to the front
of the bus. Mary Jane wasn't quite sure what she was to do with the dimes
till she noticed that the conductor had in his hand a queer-looking thing
like a clock, only it had a hole in the top just the right size for a
dime. Into that hole Mary Jane dropped a dime. And--"ding_ding_!" went a
musical little bell somewhere in the "clock." Then she dropped the other
dime. And again the bell sounded, "ding_ding_!" just as though it tried to
say "Thank _you_!" that way. Alice then dropped her two dimes and Mary
Jane had the fun of hearing the bell again. She thought she wouldn't do a
thing but watch the conductor and listen to his bell all the time he
collected fares, but just as he stepped back to get the next folks' money
the bus passed in front of the queer old stone building with great tower
that Mr. Merrill said was the city water works building, and of course
that meant the girls wanted to hear about when it was built and hear again
the story Mr. Merrill had started to tell them several evenings before
about how the great Chicago fire started and how it burned up to this very
spot they were now passing. Somehow, being at that place and seeing the
one building that stood through the fire made the history stories seem
very plain and there were a lot of questions to be asked and answered.

But buses don't wait for questions--the girls soon discovered that! Long
before the fire story was told they had raced up Lake Shore Drive, passed
its beautiful old homes, and were turning into Lincoln Park. Here it
seemed to the girls that the city ended and fairyland began. The grass
seemed greener, the lake bluer and the trees greener than any place they
had seen; and hundreds of tulips peeping up through the ground here, there
and everywhere, made spots of bright vivid color and beauty.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mary Jane happily, "I hope the bus goes on and on forever!
I'd like to keep on riding all the time!"

But when, a minute or two later, they passed near the buildings of the
Zoo, Mary Jane forgot all about wanting to ride forever and wanted to get
out, right away quick and see all the animals she had heard lived there.

"Not to-day," said Mr. Merrill, looking at his watch. "You remember we are
to go back to the stores--we're just out for a bit of fresh air this time.
Some other day when it's still