lf--the only man in the world, I give you my
word; then I got a good hold on the rope, and--kicked the barrel over
the edge."

"Oh! Colonel Ferrers!" cried the girls.

"Ha! ha! ha!" roared the boys in the tree.

"Loaded with minerals, you understand! stone, metal, I don't know what.
The barrel went down, and I went up."

"_Oh!_ Colonel Ferrers!"

"Up to the ceiling, I give you my word. High room, too, great warehouse,
twenty feet if it was one. There I hung, and there I swung, a spectacle
for gods and men."

"What _did_ you do?" asked Mrs. Merryweather, as soon as she could
control her laughter. "Dear friend, it is most heartless to laugh, but
how can we help it? How did you ever get down? did you have to wait till
the men came back?"

"No, madam. My pride would not allow that. I learned my lesson, or a
part of it, while I hung there like Mahomet's coffin; I learned that
Gravitation did not trouble itself about superior young men; but I did
not learn all that there was to learn; that took the sequel. Well, I
hung there, as I say, revolving slowly; centrifugal force, you
understand; I was really exemplifying the workings of natural forces;
interesting demonstration, if there had been any one there to see. My
crumb of comfort was that there was no one. I must get down before those
men came back from dinner; that was the one thing necessary in the world
at that moment. I measured the space of the trap as I swung; I prided
myself on my correct eye; you see I was a most complete ass: I have seen
only a few completer. I thought I could jump down astride of the trap,
so to speak, and get no harm. I came down the rope, hand over fist, till
I got to the end of it; only about six feet between me and safety: then
I jumped."

"And did you--"

"No, my dear madam, I did not. I went down into the cellar, on top of
the barrel, and I carry the mark of the edge of that barrel on my
shoulders to this day, and shall to my latest day. And the moral of this
story," the Colonel concluded, glancing up into the depths of the great
hemlock, "the moral, my young friends, is: wait till you know something
before you decide that you know everything."

When the laughter had subsided, Mr. Merryweather said: "Your story,
Colonel, reminds me of a scrape that Roger and I once got into, years
ago. No, it wasn't Roger, it was my brother Will. My children all know
it, but it may be new to you and our other guests. It happened when we
were out