sitors. As
he sat thus of an afternoon, half a dozen boys gathered round a specimen
from animal-land placed near by.

Boys have few doubts, but these lads had theirs as to the identity of the
beast. They noticed Sir George, and a delegate approached him with the
request, 'Please, sir, can you tell us the name of this creature?' He
turned in the direction indicated, and found, strangely enough, that the
specimen was one which he had sent home from the far south, during his
naturalist's work there. He named it, and the lad followed up, 'Where did
it come from?'; getting the answer.

Next, 'Who killed it?' A pucker gathered upon Sir George's face, and he
hesitated, arguing with himself, 'If I tell them, they'll think me an
impostor, and even discount the information I have given them.'

But the inquisitor waited, and Sir George could do no better than
'Frankly, you know, I believe I killed it myself.'

'Here, you fellows!' the merry voice rang out; 'he says he killed the
beast! Did you ever?'

The other boys left the animal to stare at what they felt to be a greater
curiosity.

'Oh, yes,' Sir George addressed them, as they formed a half-circle before
him, 'what I have told you is quite true. But if you will listen, I'll
relate the whole story, and then you can decide for yourselves.'

He began the tale, the amused incredulity of the boys quickly vanished,
and he never had a more attentive audience. When he had finished, his
auditors raised their hats and caps with a hearty and convinced 'Thank
you, sir.'

He gravely saluted them, as was his custom towards young and old, high
and low, and then he fell a-dreaming. He was out walking in the pleasant
English woods with Whately, learning from him the manner in which the
ancient Britons lived, and how they dug for pig-nuts; or Whately rubbed
dry sticks against each other, the primeval manner of making fire. More,
he concentrated, with a glass, the rays of the sun upon a handful of dry
twigs, which at the bidding went ablaze. Still another picture!

'While I was at Cheltenham, Whately was courting a connexion of mine, who
later became his wife. She put me through my tasks, and Whately would
help her in that, I sitting between them. Did ever a boy at his lessons
occupy a seat of such influence? I suppose I could have commanded my own
terms in reference to them, and perhaps I did. They were most pleasant
for all concerned. My education altogether, as a boy, was not very