y was a very long tunnel, though, and even Oswald was not sorry
to say, "I see daylight." The followers cheered as well as they could as
they splashed after him. The floor was stone as well as the roof, so it
was easy to walk on. I think the followers would have turned back if it
had been sharp stones or gravel.

And now the spot of daylight at the end of the tunnel grew larger and
larger, and presently the intrepid leader found himself blinking in the
full sun, and the candle he carried looked simply silly. He emerged, and
the others too, and they stretched their backs, and the word "Krikey"
fell from more than one lip. It had indeed been a cramping adventure.
Bushes grew close to the mouth of the tunnel, so we could not see much
landscape, and when we had stretched our backs we went on up stream, and
nobody said they'd had jolly well enough of it, though in more than one
young heart this was thought.

It was jolly to be in the sunshine again. I never knew before how cold
it was underground. The stream was getting smaller and smaller.

Dicky said, "This can't be the way. I expect there was a turning to the
north pole inside the tunnel, only we missed it. It was cold enough
there."

But here a twist in the stream brought us out from the bushes, and
Oswald said:

"Here is strange, wild, tropical vegetation in the richest profusion.
Such blossoms as these never opened in a frigid what's-its-name."

It was indeed true. We had come out into a sort of marshy, swampy place
like, I think, a jungle is, that the stream ran through, and it was
simply crammed with queer plants and flowers we never saw before or
since. And the stream was quite thin. It was torridly hot and softish to
walk on. There were rushes and reeds and small willows, and it was all
tangled over with different sorts of grasses--and pools here and there.
We saw no wild beasts, but there were more different kinds of wild flies
and beetles than you could believe anybody could bear, and dragon-flies
and gnats. The girls picked a lot of flowers. I know the names of some
of them, but I will not tell you them because this is not meant to be
instructing. So I will only name meadow-sweet, yarrow, loose-strife,
lady's bed-straw, and willow herb--both the larger and the lesser.

Every one now wished to go home. It was much hotter there than in
natural fields. It made you want to tear all your clothes off and play
at savages, instead of keeping respectable in your b