THE WALKING PARTY 163 



magnanimous, and shall have to confess that the 

 cakes were not "half bad/ ? The chicken, too, 

 was prime, and many were the demands for the 

 recipe for that particular style, served in the sauce- 

 pan and with plenty of "nibbins." 



Though botanizing, specimen gathering and 

 observing had their place in our earlier plans for 

 these regular excursions, they soon came to be 

 openly discouraged. The Walking Party had no 

 reputation to sustain as a scientific body, though 

 its individual members might be as famous as they 

 pleased in seminary or laboratory. Saturday should 

 be devoted to the pure joy of living and of being 

 together. Nonsense was encouraged. If we 

 happened on a stone-strewn field, it was hardly a 

 minute before we were in the midst of a game 

 of "duck-on-a-rock." Out of breath with this 

 brisk exercise, we would pick up our baskets and 

 away again up hill and down dale. Though we 

 knew every farmhouse where they had a good 

 well, and had made friends with many a loud- 

 voiced dog, we flattered ourselves that we were 

 not distinguished by the country people from the 

 many really serious -minded parties which took 

 sober excursions to study "flora and fauna." 



There were few hills within a radius of ten 

 miles which knew us not, few glens left unex- 

 plored! We had crossed and recrossed the many 

 streams of the region, on fallen tree trunks which 

 formed natural bridges, on stepping stones if there 

 were any, or on hastily constructed foot-bridges 

 if it pleased our fancy to cross "where ford there 



