apology, "I was
afraid the poor, dear Dodo, in his delicate state of health, might come
in to breakfast and eat more than was good for him; so, by eating the
lot myself, I have prevented him from doing that. He ought to be very
grateful to me, I'm sure."

"But what about the others?" asked Dick.

"Oh, great, strong, healthy animals like them, it will do them good to
go without for once in a way. I think, though, that in order to prevent
them from feeling any disappointment it will be better to throw the
basins out of the window, the sight of them would probably be rather
tantalizing." And the Eteraedarium began hurriedly to throw all the
breakfast things out of the window--spoons, basins, tablecloths, and
serviettes, all disappeared, and only the three basins which the
children had been using remained.

They, doubtless, would have followed the others had not the Dodo,
leaning heavily on the Prehistoric Doctor's arm, entered the breakfast
car just at that moment.

"Ah! bread-and-milk--capital!" exclaimed the Doctor, rubbing his hands,
and looking at the children's basins. "I think our patient could manage
a small basinful, eh?"

The Dodo, with a great affectation of weakness, feebly nodded his head.

"I think I _could_ manage a small basinful, Doctor--er--er--not _too_
small, you know. A _very_ small quantity never agrees with me."

"No, no; of course not," said the Doctor, soothingly. "I will see that
it is not too small; and perhaps, just to encourage you, I will have a
basinful myself."

"It's all gone!" said the Eteraedarium, suddenly and emphatically.

"Gone!" screamed the Dodo, in a loud voice, quite forgetting his
supposed weakness. "Do you mean to say there is _none_ left?"

The Eteraedarium shook his head.

"But where's it all gone to?" asked the Doctor.

The Eteraedarium solemnly pointed to the children.

"Pigs!" declared the Dodo, wrathfully.

"Here, who are you calling pigs?" demanded Dick, getting up angrily.

"Well, I must say that it was exceedingly greedy of you to devour all of
the breakfast," said the Doctor, reprovingly.

"But we didn't," said Dick. "It was the Eteraedarium; he had ever so many
basinsful. We only had one each, didn't we, Marjorie?"

"No," said Marjorie; "and mine was a very small one."

"And mine was the littlest of all," said Fidge, flourishing his spoon,
"like the littlest bear's, you know, in the story of the Three Bears."

"Well, where are the other basins, t