tly,
forcing the pedestrians to take refuge under some leafy pines. There
they sat quietly for a time, till their interest was excited by a deep
growl, which seemed to come round a jog in the road just ahead.

"Is that a bear or a wolf, Corry?" the dominie asked in a whisper.

"More like a wild cat or a lynx," cheerfully responded his friend.

The growl was repeated, and then a human like voice was heard which
quieted the ferocious animal.

"Whatever it is, it's got a keeper," whispered Coristine, "so we needn't
be afraid."

Then the sun shone forth brightly and a rainbow spanned the sky.

"The rainbow comes and goes," said the lawyer, which gave the
schoolmaster occasion to recite:--

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old
Or let me die!
The child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

"Brayvo, well done, ancore!" cried a cheery and cheeky voice coming
round the jog; "oo'd a thought of meetin' a play hactor 'ere in the
bush! Down, Muggins, down," the latter to a largish and wiry-looking
terrier, the author of the ominous growls.

"I beg your pardon, sir," said Wilkinson with dignity, "I have nothing
to do with the stage, beyond admiring the ancient ornaments of the
English drama."

"Hall right, no hoffence meant and none taken, I 'ope. But you did it
well, sir, devilish well, I tell you. My name is Rawdon, and I'm a
workin' geologist and minerologist hon the tramp."

The stranger, who had thus introduced himself, was short, about five
feet five, fairly stout, with a large head covered with curly reddish
hair, his whiskers and goatee of the same hue, his eyes pale grayish,
his nose retrousse, and his mouth like a half-moon lying on its back. He
was dressed in a tweed suit of a very broad check; his head was crowned
with a pith hat, almost too large even for it; and he wore gaiters. But,
what endeared him to the pedestrians was his knapsack made of some kind
of ribbed brown waterproof cloth.

"Either of you gents take any hinterest in science?" he asked affably,
whereupon the schoolmaster took it upon himself to reply.

"I, as an educationist, dabble a little in geology, mineralogy, and
palaeontology. My friend is a botanist. You are Mr. Rawdon. Allow me, Mr.
Rawdon, to introduce my friend Mr. Eugene