that. "It's 'if this man's father is that man's son, what relation
is Dick to Tom?'"

"I wish you wouldn't interfere," said the Dodo. "I tell you the
question is right as I asked it."

"But your wife's aunt couldn't be anybody's son," said Marjorie, who was
trying to puzzle it out.

"Who said she _was_?" snapped the Dodo, crossly; "she is as likely to be
anybody's son as a robin is to be like a waterbut, and besides, I didn't
say she was; I said, if she was, you know."

"Well, let's work it out," said the Eteraedarium, spreading out his
fingers. "Let's see, that's my wife's aunt," he continued, pointing to
his thumb, "and that's my brother's son," he added, touching the next
finger, "and the other two will do for Dick and Tom. Now--er----"

"Who is the other finger?" interrupted the Dodo, anxiously.

"Me," said the Palaeotherium, solemnly and ungrammatically.

"It isn't," declared the other.

"It is," repeated the Palaeotherium.

"Oh, very well! let it be so," cried the Archaeopteryx, impatiently.
"What's the answer, anyhow?"

[Illustration: "'Who is the other finger?' interrupted the Dodo,
anxiously."]

"I don't know," said the Eteraedarium, staring at his fingers stupidly.
"I don't see what relation those two fingers are to the other two. Well,
what relation _is_ Dick to Tom?" he asked, turning to the Dodo.

"The same relation that the robin is to the waterbut," said that bird,
conclusively. "Come on, let's get the Skipper to teach us how to dance a
hornpipe," and he led the way from the table, quite disregarding the
fact that the others had not finished.

The Skipper, who had been quite as puzzled as the others were by these
extraordinary conundrums, willingly agreed, and, first of all, danced a
hornpipe himself very successfully, and then did his best to teach the
others.

The Dodo, with his short legs and big body, very soon gave up trying,
and, thoroughly worn out by the exertion, lay panting on the shingle,
while the Eteraedarium took his turn. He got along capitally, and the
children laughed heartily at the queer capers which he cut.

They were in the midst of the fun, when the Dodo suddenly jumped up,
and, pointing excitedly up into the air, cried, "Look! Look! What's
that?"

They all looked in the direction which he indicated, and after a time
discerned a tiny speck in the sky, which the Skipper declared, after
watching some time, to be a balloon.

"It's all red," cried Marjorie, whose e