s, leading
the Lump, and carrying a basket, and suggested to Kathleen and others of
her young friends that they should accompany her on her quest and share
the spoil. But their nurses, fore-seeing extra work from the mud in the
marsh, would not allow them to go.

The prince, who had been waiting patiently for the arrival of Pollyooly,
while the baron slept in his deck-chair, listened to the discussion with
uncomprehending ears. It did not occur to her to invite the be-tutored
Hohenzollern to accompany her; but when she started, the prince, doubtful
of the reception of a direct offer to escort her would receive, followed
her at a distance of about thirty yards. Pollyooly was giving her
attention to the Lump, and was not aware of her follower until she had
crossed the bridge over the dyke, from the road into the marsh. There
she turned and saw him; and at the first sight of him she was minded to
send him back to his sleeping tutor. Then it occurred to her that the
company of the prince would be better than no company at all; and she
suffered him to come.

Though neither of them had any conversation, Pollyooly talked away to the
prince and the Lump, and was quite content with the grunts of assent with
which the prince punctuated her observations. But she was presently
annoyed to find that he shone no more as an assistant mushroomer than as
a conversationalist. It was not so much that he was ignorant of the
difference between mushrooms and toadstools, and equally unskilful in
discovering either, as that he often trod on the fairest members of the
group he was picking. Pollyooly therefore gave him the basket to carry
and picked the mushrooms herself. Twice he dropped it and scattered them
over the turf. She chid him but gently and carried it herself.

But destiny, which dogs the steps of princes, was leading him to a
catastrophe. The basket was large and growing heavy; but the
indefatigable Pollyooly pushed deeper into the marsh. They had crossed
several dykes safely; then they came to a plank over a small dyke, nearly
dried up. Pollyooly took every possible care to get the expedition
across safely. She carried the Lump across and then the basket of
mushrooms. Then she turned to watch the passage of the prince. The
plank was not more than ten feet long; and it was destiny which chose the
exact middle of it for the prince to fall off. He struck the dyke with a
splash which drew a cry of delight from the Lum