The panorama doesn't really begin till half-past three. I saw it
up on the board outside."

"But I've only got three half-pence left," said Walter, "so _I_ can't
ride any more."

"Oh, I'll lend you the money. I've got heaps."

"But could you find your way back, Chris? This is such a thundering
big place," urged Walter doubtfully.

"Yes, you idiot, of course I can. But don't come if you're afraid."

Chris knew very well that such a suggestion would break down Walter's
hesitation at once; and so it did. He followed his friend, and soon
forgot all about the panorama in his delight at having improved so
much since the morning in the management of his tricycle.

Suddenly a clock struck. One, two, three, FOUR.

"Chris, Chris, _did_ you hear? It's four o'clock!" he cried.

"Well, what of that?" was the cool rejoinder.

"Get off at once, Chris. The panorama must be half over. Bother it
all! and I did so want to see it."

Chris proceeded slowly and leisurely back to the starting-point, and
got off his tricycle.

"How much?" he asked the man in charge.

"One and sixpence each, please."

"What a plague you are, Wat, to have come without any money," said
Chris, as he paid the three shillings. "I didn't come to spend all my
cash on you."

"How do you come to have so much?" inquired Walter.

"Why, my jolly old brick of an uncle gave me five shillings when he
heard I was coming here."

"I wish he was _my_ uncle," sighed Walter, whose parents were very
poor. "But I say, Chris, is this the way to the panorama?"

"No, but I'm thirsty. I'm going into the palace to get a glass of
beer. You can go on to the panorama if you're so anxious about it."

But Walter was far too much afraid of getting lost among the crowds of
people in the "thundering big garden" to part from his companion. He
had never been more than ten miles from his native village until
to-day, and he felt quite bewildered at all the strange sights and
sounds.

He followed Chris, who proceeded to a refreshment counter, and asked
for beer.

"We don't sell wine or beer, or anything of the sort, sir," was the
answer. "It's against the rules of the palace, and we've no licence."

Nothing made Chris so savage as to be thwarted in anything he wanted
to do.

"Then it's a stupid place, and it ought to be ashamed of itself," he
said angrily; "but if I can't get it here, I'll go where I can."

He turned on his heel and walked quickly away, followed by the