ever, my vigilance relaxed and I seemed to drift off; and I remained
wrapped in fitful slumber until rewakened by a persistent pattering on
my blanket. It would appear that for some time past rain had been
falling. I was quite damp and my limbs were much chilled, and I had
already begun to develop certain unfailing signs of a severe cold in the
head--a malady to which I am subject.

The rain soon ceased, however; and, beyond confirming the evidence of
the bear's visit as just stated, nothing further marked our rising
except my discovery that in tossing about during the night I had broken
both the crystals of my eyeglasses.

Breakfast was far, oh! far from being a cheerful meal, consisting as it
did of water from the lake and the crumbled, ant-ridden fragments of the
lemon-jelly layer cake. Once more the thought of a steaming hot cup of
tea came to me with compelling insistency, provoking an almost
overpowering longing for the comforts of some roofed and walled
domicile, howsoever humble. I shall not deny that at this moment the
appurtenances and conveniences of modern civilisation appealed to me
with an intensity hard to describe in language.

Moreover, I was forced to the conclusion that, because of circumstances
over which we had no control, our outing thus far had in a number of its
most material aspects been far from an unqualified triumph.

Yet so well did I conceal my innermost sentiments from my juvenile
companions that soon, in response to my smiling looks and apt remarks,
they were crying out with laughter--indeed, responding with resounding
guffaws to my every sally. When I tell you my countenance was quite
covered over with blisters, where not disfigured by the welts inflicted
by the venomed darts of the mosquitoes, you will perhaps more readily
understand what these efforts to assume a buoyant bearing and a happy
expression cost me.

Shortly after finishing the last of the lemon-jelly cake the five
youngsters manifested an inclination to fare away into the forest on a
joint journey of exploration. I did not seek to dissuade them--rather, I
encouraged them and by all the means in my power expedited their
departure; for, in truth, I longed for a time to be alone. I hoped, in
the silence and solitude of these trackless wilds, to formulate
suitable and reasonable excuses for cutting our outing short and
returning before nightfall to the several places of our habitation,
there at our leisure to plan another