who was still star-gazing.

"But I thought it was in a fir-tree?" objected Arthur.

"Ah, don't you know? that's a new sort of fir which old Caldecott
brought from the Himalayas."

"Really," said Arthur; "I'm glad I know that--how unlike our firs they
are! They do very well, too, here, don't they? the spinney's full of
them."

"What's that humbug he's telling you?" cried Tom, looking up, having
caught the word Himalayas, and suspecting what East was after.

"Only about this fir," said Arthur, putting his hand on the stem of
the beech.

"Fir!" shouted Tom; "why, you don't mean to say, young un, you don't
know a beech when you see one?"

Poor little Arthur looked terribly ashamed, and East exploded in
laughter which made the wood ring.

"I've hardly ever seen any trees," faltered Arthur.

"What a shame to hoax him, Scud!" cried Martin. "Never mind, Arthur
you shall know more about trees than he does in a week or two."

"And isn't that the kestrel's nest, then?" asked Arthur.

"That! why that's a piece of mistletoe. There's the nest, that lump of
sticks up in this fir."

"Don't believe him, Arthur," struck in the incorrigible East. "I just
saw an old magpie go out of it."

Martin did not deign to reply to this sally, except by a grunt, as he
buckled the last buckle of his climbing-irons; and Arthur looked
reproachfully at East without speaking.

But now came the tug of war. It was a very difficult tree to climb
until the branches were reached, the first of which was some fourteen
feet up, for the trunk was too large at the bottom to be swarmed;[8]
in fact, neither of the boys could reach more than half round it with
their arms. Martin and Tom, both of whom had irons on, tried it
without success at first; the fir bark broke away where they stuck the
irons in as soon as they leaned any weight on their feet, and the grip
of their arms wasn't enough to keep them up; so, after getting up
three or four feet, down they came slithering[9] to the ground,
barking their arms and faces. They were furious, and East sat by
laughing and shouting at each failure: "Two to one on the old magpie!"

[8] #Swarmed#: climbed by embracing with arms and legs.

[9] #Slithering#: sliding.

"We must try a pyramid," said Tom at last. "Now, Scud, you lazy
rascal, stick yourself against the tree!"

"I dare say! and have you standing on my shoulders with the irons on:
what do you think my skin's made of?" However, up he got