LIVING BACKWARDS 



miniature palms and ferns, and sailed argosies of 

 leafy galleons round about one of them had a 

 luxuriant caterpillar curled up in its prow like a 

 voluptuous Cleopatra. 



It was not until the lengthening shadows warned 

 us, that we set out for our cabin, and then went 

 to work without any didacticism or other nonsense 

 to get our dinner. I had sand under my finger 

 nails and scratches on my wrists, but I remarked 

 to Charlie, &quot; Pot cheese and strawberries are aw 

 fully good, my boy,&quot; and he, with his mouth full, 

 made voracious response, &quot; Awfully, ain t they ? &quot; 



About half-past eight o clock he looked at me 

 with sleepy surprise. &quot; Are you going to bed, 

 too ? &quot; 



&quot;Yes,&quot; I said, &quot;I think I m played out. Good 

 night.&quot; 



&quot; Good-night, papa.&quot; 



I changed the memorandum on the Doctor s 

 letter, to read &quot;Send for book on hydraulics.&quot; 

 That s all I remember of that night. 



Having imitated Charlie up to this point, there 

 was no good reason why I should not get up in 

 the morning when he did. But he was ahead of 

 me, and cavorting at five o clock with the yellow 

 dog on the wet wire grass. I heard his invitation 

 to come out and see the sun rise, a performance 

 that I thought should have worn its novelty off 

 several thousand years ago. But I took a look at 

 it, and it had some special features that were almost 

 Persian or Hellenic. His Majesty rose over a 

 wooded hill, setting fire to the trees in a most 



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