Anthea said, "I don't think _that's_ a
necessity of life."

"Yes, it is," said he. "We must put the things down somewhere to cut
them up; and I heard father say the other day people got diseases from
germans in rain-water. Now there must be lots of rain-water here,--and
when it dries up the germans are left, and they'd get into the things,
and we should all die of scarlet fever."

"What are germans?"

"Little waggly things you see with microscopes," said Cyril, with a
scientific air. "They give you every illness you can think of. I'm sure
the paper was a necessary, just as much as the bread and meat and water.
Now then! Oh, I'm hungry!"

I do not wish to describe the picnic party on the top of the tower. You
can imagine well enough what it is like to carve a chicken and a tongue
with a knife that has only one blade and that snapped off short about
half-way down. But it was done. Eating with your fingers is greasy and
difficult--and paper dishes soon get to look very spotty and horrid. But
one thing you _can't_ imagine, and that is how soda-water behaves when
you try to drink it straight out of a syphon--especially a quite full
one. But if imagination will not help you, experience will, and you can
easily try it for yourself if you can get a grown-up to give you the
syphon. If you want to have a really thorough experience, put the tube
in your mouth and press the handle very suddenly and very hard. You had
better do it when you are alone--and out of doors is best for this
experiment.

However you eat them, tongue and chicken and new bread are very good
things, and no one minds being sprinkled a little with soda-water on a
really fine hot day. So that everyone enjoyed the dinner very much
indeed, and everyone ate as much as it possibly could: first, because it
was extremely hungry; and secondly, because, as I said, tongue and
chicken and new bread are very nice.

Now, I daresay you will have noticed that if you have to wait for your
dinner till long after the proper time, and then eat a great deal more
dinner than usual, and sit in the hot sun on the top of a
church-tower--or even anywhere else--you become soon and strangely
sleepy. Now Anthea and Jane and Cyril and Robert were very like you in
many ways, and when they had eaten all they could, and drunk all there
was, they became sleepy, strangely and soon--especially Anthea, because
she had gotten up so early.

[Illustration: The children were fast asleep]