d the polar bear.

Dicky wished to take the wood-axe, the coal hammer, a blanket, and a
mackintosh.

H. O. brought a large faggot in case we had to light fires, and a pair
of old skates he had happened to notice in the box-room, in case the
expedition turned out icy.

Noel had nicked a dozen boxes of matches, a spade, and a trowel, and had
also obtained--I know not by what means--a jar of pickled onions.

Denny had a walking-stick--we can't break him of walking with it--a book
to read in case he got tired of being a discoverer, a butterfly net and
a box with cork in it, a tennis-ball, if we happened to want to play
rounders in the pauses of exploring, two towels and an umbrella in the
event of camping or if the river got big enough to bathe in or to be
fallen into.

Alice had a comforter for Noel in case we got late, a pair of scissors
and needle and cotton, two whole candles in case of caves. And she had
thoughtfully brought the table-cloth off the small table in the
dining-room, so that we could make all the things up into one bundle and
take it in turns to carry it.

Oswald had fastened his master mind entirely on grub. Nor had the others
neglected this.

All the stores for the expedition were put down on the table-cloth and
the corners tied up. Then it was more than even Oswald's muscley arms
could raise from the ground, so we decided not to take it, but only the
best-selected grub. The rest we hid in the straw loft, for there are
many ups and downs in life, and grub _is_ grub at any time, and so are
stores of all kinds. The pickled onions we had to leave, but not
forever.

Then Dora and Daisy came along with their arms round each other's necks
as usual, like a picture on a grocer's almanac, and said they weren't
coming.

It was, as I have said, a blazing hot day, and there were differences of
opinion among the explorers about what eatables we ought to have taken,
and H. O. had lost one of his garters and wouldn't let Alice tie it up
with her handkerchief, which the gentle sister was quite willing to do.
So it was a rather gloomy expedition that set off that bright sunny day
to seek the source of the river where Cleopatra sailed in Shakespeare
(or the frozen plains Mr. Nansen wrote that big book about).

But the balmy calm of peaceful nature soon made the others less
cross--Oswald had not been cross exactly, but only disinclined to do
anything the others wanted--and by the time we had followed the strea