orner of the lock
gate, and when the gate was shut it fell off into the water.

Alice and Dora screamed hideously. So did Daisy, but her screams were
thinner.

The snake swam round and round all the time our boat was in the lock. It
swam with four inches of itself--the head end--reared up out of the
water, exactly like Kaa in the Jungle book--so we know Kipling is a
true author and no rotter. We were careful to keep our hands well inside
the boat. A snake's eyes strike terror into the boldest breast.

When the lock was full father killed the viper with a boat-hook. I was
sorry for it myself. It was indeed a venomous serpent. But it was the
first we had ever seen, except at the Zoo. And it did swim most awfully
well.

Directly the snake had been killed H. O. reached out for its corpse, and
the next moment the body of our little brother was seen wriggling
conclusively on the boat's edge. This exciting spectacle was not of a
lasting nature. He went right in. Father clawed him out. He is very
unlucky with water.

Being a birthday, but little was said. H. O. was wrapped in everybody's
coats, and did not take any cold at all.

This glorious birthday ended with an iced cake and ginger wine, and
drinking healths. Then we played whatever we liked. There had been
rounders during the afternoon. It was a day to be forever marked by
memory's brightest what's-its-name.

I should not have said anything about the picnic but for one thing. It
was the thin edge of the wedge. It was the all-powerful lever that moved
but too many events. You see, _we were now no longer strangers to the
river_.

And we went there whenever we could. Only we had to take the dogs, and
to promise no bathing without grown-ups. But paddling in back waters
was allowed. I say no more.

I have not enumerated Noel's birthday presents because I wish to leave
something to the imagination of my young readers. (The best authors
always do this.) If you will take the large, red catalogue of the Army
and Navy Stores, and just make a list of about fifteen of the things you
would like best--prices from 2_s._ to 25_s._--you will get a very good
idea of Noel's presents, and it will help you to make up your mind in
case you are asked just before your next birthday what you really
_need_.

One of Noel's birthday presents was a cricket-ball. He cannot bowl for
nuts, and it was a first-rate ball. So some days after the birthday
Oswald offered him to exchange it for a