ip.'

(But in the end both boys were captains, because that meant being on the
boat, whereas being the Princess's brother, however turbanned, only
meant standing on the bank. And there is no rule to prevent captains
wearing turbans and Persian daggers, except in the Navy where, of
course, it is not done.)

So then they all tore up to the attic where the dressing-up trunk was,
and pulled out all the dressing-up things on to the floor. And all the
time they were dressing, Alison was telling the others what they were to
say and do. The Princess wore a white satin skirt and a red flannel
blouse and a veil formed of several motor scarves of various colours.
Also a wreath of pink roses off one of Ethel's old hats, and a pair of
pink satin slippers with sparkly buckles.

Kenneth wore a blue silk dressing-jacket and a yellow sash, a lace
collar, and a towel turban. And the others divided between them an
eastern dressing-gown, once the property of their grandfather, a black
spangled scarf, very holey, a pair of red and white football stockings,
a Chinese coat, and two old muslin curtains, which, rolled up, made
turbans of enormous size and fierceness.

On the landing outside cousin Ethel's open door Alison paused and said,
'I say!'

'Oh! come on,' said Conrad, 'we haven't fixed the Chinese lanterns yet,
and it's getting dark.'

'You go on,' said Alison, 'I've just thought of something.'

The children were allowed to play in the boat so long as they didn't
loose it from its moorings. The painter was extremely long, and quite
the effect of coming home from a long voyage was produced when the three
boys pushed the boat out as far as it would go among the boughs of the
beech-tree which overhung the water, and then reappeared in the circle
of red and yellow light thrown by the Chinese lanterns.

'What ho! ashore there!' shouted the captain.

'What ho!' said a voice from the shore which, Alison explained, was
disguised.

'We be three poor mariners,' said Conrad by a happy effort of memory,
'just newly come to shore. We seek news of the Princess of Tripoli.'

'She's in her palace,' said the disguised voice, 'wait a minute, and
I'll tell her you're here. But what do you want her for? ("A poor
minstrel of France") go on, Con.'

'A poor minstrel of France,' said Conrad, '(all right! I remember,) who
has heard of the Princess's beauty has come to lay, to lay----'

'His heart,' said Alison.

[Illustration: A radiant vision