ate. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The dreamer, the
joyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his heels
in the air.

"--about in boats--or _with_ boats," the Rat went on composedly,
picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. "In or out of 'em, it
doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of
it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at
your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you
never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do
anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always
something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much
better not. Look here! If you've really nothing else on hand this
morning, supposing we drop down the river together, and have a long
day of it?"

The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest with
a sigh of full contentment, and leant back blissfully into the soft
cushions. "_What_ a day I'm having!" he said. "Let us start at once!"

"Hold hard a minute, then!" said the Rat. He looped the painter
through a ring in his landing-stage, climbed up into his hole above,
and after a short interval reappeared staggering under a fat wicker
luncheon-basket.

"Shove that under your feet," he observed to the Mole, as he passed it
down into the boat. Then he untied the painter and took the sculls
again.

"What's inside it?" asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity.

"There's cold chicken inside it," replied the Rat briefly:
"coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwiches
pottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater--"

"O stop, stop!" cried the Mole in ecstasies. "This is too much!"

"Do you really think so?" enquired the Rat seriously. "It's only what
I always take on these little excursions; and the other animals are
always telling me that I'm a mean beast and cut it _very_ fine!"

The Mole never heard a word he was saying. Absorbed in the new life he
was entering upon, intoxicated with the sparkle, the ripple, the
scents and the sounds and the sunlight, he trailed a paw in the water
and dreamed long waking dreams. The Water Rat, like the good little
fellow he was, sculled steadily on and forbore to disturb him.

"I like your clothes awfully, old chap," he remarked after some half
an hour or so had passed. "I'm going to get a black velvet smoking-suit
myself some day, as soon as I can afford it."

"I beg your pardon," sai