an to slay them with lethal weapons.

The costume finally agreed on combined a number of distinctive touches.
The head-dress was a red Scotch cap--tam-o'-shanter I believe is its
common appellation--to be ornamented with a feather or tuft of simple
field flowers. There was to be a loose white blouse with a soft rolling
collar such as sailors wear, marked on the sleeve with any desirable
insignia, and joined or attached to the nether garments by means of a
broad leather belt, set with a buckle. It was my own conception that the
nether garments should be in hue blue, and should end just above the
knees; also, that the stockings should be rolled down on the limbs, thus
leaving the knees bare, after the custom followed by the hardy Tyrolese
and the natives of the Highlands. We agreed that the matter of outer
coats or woven jackets--I dislike the word sweater--for further
protection in inclement atmospheric conditions, should be left to the
dictates of the individual. I deplored this, however, as tending to mar
the general effect.

All this having been arranged, Miss Peebles volunteered to construct a
costume for me according to measurements that, for the sake of the
proprieties, I made myself and sent to her by mail. With my mind
relieved of this duty, I set diligently about the task of acquainting
myself fully with the duties of my position. I procured a number of
helpful works, including among others: "Who's Who Among the Plants,
Flowers, Herbs and Shoots"; "How to Know the Poison Ivy--a Brochure";
"Archery in All Its Branches"; "The Complete Boy Camper," by a Mr. E.
Hough; and an authoritative work on swimming and diving. To the
last-named volume I applied myself with all intensity. I felt that a
thorough knowledge of swimming was essential to my position as guide and
instructor to these young minds.

In my youth I never learned to swim; in fact, I went swimming but once.
On that occasion the water was unpleasantly chilly; and on my venturing
out waist-deep there was a sensation--a delusion if you will--that all
the important vital organs had become detached from their customary
alignments and were crowding up into the throat, impeding utterance and
distracting the thoughts from the work in hand.

Also, on emerging from the pool I found my young companions in a spirit
of mistaken pleasantry had tied my garments into quite hard knots. This
inconsiderate and thoughtless act so disturbed me that I did not repeat
the exp