ert, in an obliging whisper, ten pounds a
week to appear at the Crystal Palace. Robert had to say "No."

"I can't," he said regretfully. "It's no use promising what you can't
do."

"Ah, poor fellow, bound for a term of years, I suppose! Well, here's my
card; when your time's up come to me."

[Illustration: "When your time's up come to me"]

"I will--if I'm the same size then," said Robert truthfully.

"If you grow a bit, so much the better," said the gentleman.

When he had gone, Robert beckoned Cyril and said--

"Tell them I must and will have a rest. And I want my tea."

Tea was provided, and a paper hastily pinned on the tent. It said--

CLOSED FOR HALF AN HOUR
WHILE THE GIANT GETS HIS TEA

Then there was a hurried council.

"How am I to get away?" said Robert.

"I've been thinking about it all the afternoon."

"Why, walk out when the sun sets and you're your right size. They can't
do anything to us."

Robert opened his eyes. "Why, they'd nearly kill us," he said, "when
they saw me get my right size. No, we must think of some other way. We
_must_ be alone when the sun sets."

"I know," said Cyril briskly, and he went to the door, outside which
Bill was smoking a clay pipe and talking in a low voice to 'Becca.
Cyril heard him say--"Good as havin' a fortune left you."

"Look here," said Cyril, "you can let people come in again in a minute.
He's nearly finished tea. But he _must_ be left alone when the sun sets.
He's very queer at that time of day, and if he's worried I won't answer
for the consequences."

"Why--what comes over him?" asked Bill.

"I don't know; it's--it's sort of a _change_," said Cyril candidly. "He
isn't at all like himself--you'd hardly know him. He's very queer
indeed. Someone'll get hurt if he's not alone about sunset." This was
true.

"He'll pull round for the evening, I s'pose?"

"Oh yes--half an hour after sunset he'll be quite himself again."

"Best humour him," said the woman.

And so, at what Cyril judged was about half an hour before sunset, the
tent was again closed "whilst the giant gets his supper."

The crowd was very merry about the giant's meals and their coming so
close together.

"Well, he can pick a bit," Bill owned. "You see he has to eat hearty,
being the size he is."

Inside the tent the four children breathlessly arranged a plan of
retreat.

"You go _now_," said Cyril to the girls, "and get along home as fast as
you can. O