e was so exactly like Mr. Noah that the children knew
who he was even before he said, 'Well, father,' and Mr. Noah said, 'This
is my son: he has had some experience in outfits.'

'What have you got to start with?' the son asked, getting to business at
once.

'Two dogs, two children, and a camel,' said Mr. Noah. 'Yes, I know it's
customary to have two of everything, but I assure you, my dear boy, that
one camel is as much as Sir Philip can manage. It is indeed.'

Mr. Noah's son very dutifully supposed that his father knew best and
willingly agreed to provide everything that was needed for the
expedition, including one best-quality talking parrot, and to deliver
all goods, carefully packed, within half an hour.

. . . . . . .

So now you see Philip, and Lucy who still wore her fairy dress, packed
with all their belongings on the top of a very large and wobbly camel,
and being led out of the city by the usual procession, with seven bands
of music all playing 'See the Conquering Hero goes,' quite a different
tune from the one you know, which has a name a little like that.

The camel and its load were rather a tight fit for the particular
gateway that they happened to go out by, and the children had to stoop
to avoid scraping their heads against the top of the arch. But they got
through all right, and now they were well on the road which was really
little more than a field path running through the flowery meadow country
where the dragon had been killed. They saw the Stonehenge ruins and the
big tower far away to the left, and in front lay the vast and
interesting expanse of the Absolutely Unknown.

The sun was shining--there was a sun, and Mr. Noah had told the
children that it came out of the poetry books, together with rain and
flowers and the changing seasons--and in spite of the strange,
almost-tumble-no-it's-all-right-but-you'd-better-look-out way in which
the camel walked, the two travellers were very happy. The dogs bounded
along in the best of spirits, and even the camel seemed less a prey than
usual to that proud melancholy which you must have noticed in your
visits to the Zoo as his most striking quality.

It was certainly very grand to ride on a camel, and Lucy tried not to
think how difficult it would be to get on and off. The parrot was
interesting too. It talked extremely well. Of course you understand
that, if you can only make a parrot understand, it can tell