enough either, which he knew would strike Aunt Melissy, who was
a Glenwood, and primpy, and fond of the best things.

"So then we began to pack up right away, and Uncle Silas and Aunt
Melissy quarrelled a good deal about what was worth taking and what
wasn't, and they took turns scolding the hired man about a good many
things he didn't do and almost all of the things he did do, and my
little cousins and I had a fine time running through the empty rooms and
playing with things we had never seen before, but we had to keep out of
Aunt Melissy's reach if we wanted to enjoy it much.

[Illustration: AUNT MELISSY HAD ARRANGED A BUNDLE FOR UNCLE SILAS, AND
SHE HAD FIXED UP THE HIRED MAN TOO]

"Well, by-and-by we were all packed up and ready to start. We had
everything in bundles or tied together, and Aunt Melissy had arranged a
big bundle for Uncle Silas to carry, and several things to tie and hang
about on his person in different places, and she had fixed up the hired
man too, besides some bundles for me and my little cousins.

[Illustration: DIDN'T LOOK AS IF SHE BELONGED TO THE REST OF OUR CROWD]

"Aunt Melissy said she would take charge of the lunch-basket and lead
the way, and she was all dressed up and carried an umbrella, and didn't
look much as if she belonged to the rest of our crowd.

"It was pretty early when we started, for it was getting dangerous to
camp out in that section, and we wanted to get as far as we could the
first day, though we didn't any of us have any idea then how long a trip
we _would_ make that day, nor of the way we were going to make it.
Nobody could guess a guess like that, even if he was the best guesser in
the world and made his living that way."

Mr. 'Possum stopped to light his pipe again, and said that if anybody
wanted a chance to guess how far they went that first day and how they
travelled, they could guess now. But the Hollow Tree People said they
didn't want to guess, and they did want Mr. 'Possum to go ahead and tell
them about it.

"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "we travelled fifty miles that first day, and
we travelled it in less than two hours."

"Fifty miles in two hours!" said all the Hollow Tree People. And Jack
Rabbit said:

"Why, a menagerie like that couldn't travel fifty miles in two years!"

"But we did, though," said Mr. 'Possum; "we travelled it in a balloon."

"In a balloon!"

"Well, not exactly in a balloon, but _with_ a balloon. It happened just
as I'm going