The evening after the entomological ramble passed away very quietly, for
the boys were too tired to care for anything but the hearty tea they
made, which partook more of the nature of a supper; and after this there
was such a disposition for sleep exhibited by the whole of the party,
not excluding the Squire himself, that Mrs Inglis very soon began to
talk about bed; and toe had to talk very loudly, too, for Harry had
curled himself up in the great easy chair, dormouse fashion; Fred was
sitting at the table with a book, whose leaves he was keeping from
flying open by resting his head upon them; while Philip was seated on a
small ottoman by his father's knees, and resting against them, fast
asleep, as was also the Squire himself.
Mrs Inglis looked up from the fancy work upon which she was engaged,
and could not help smiling at the appearance the rest of the inmates of
the room presented. However, judging that at all events the junior
portion would be far better in bed, she proceeded to arouse them, which
was no easy task; and at last got them out of the room, Harry being by
far the most sleepy, and yawning fearfully as he was led off to bed.
The next morning Fred was the first awake, and, after rousing his
cousins, he went to the window to raise the blind, when he found it to
be a regular soaking wet morning, one with a heavy, leaden-hued sky, and
the rain coming down "plish-plash" from the leaves and branches, and
upon the edges of the verandah the drops running together like glassy
beads until too heavy to hang, when they dropped upon the stones below,
just in the same places where they had fallen for years, and wore the
stone away into hollows. Little streams were slowly running down by the
sides of the gravel-walks, and every bit of path looked muddy and dirty.
As for the birds, they did not seem to mind the rain a bit, but were
hurrying about the grounds picking up the worms, slugs, and snails that
the cooling rain had fetched out of their hiding-places, so that they
were having a regular feast; while one thrush, who had evidently been an
early bird, and had the first pick at the worms, was up, high up, in the
cedar at the corner of the field, whistling away as though the happiest
of birds. The roses were getting washed clear of the blight that had
begun to cover them; and everything seemed to be drinking in the soft
cooling drops that fell so gently and bathed the face of nature, for
during Fred's visit the only rain that had fallen was that which
accompanied the thunderstorm, and since then the hot sun had drawn all
the moisture from the surface, so that many things began to appear
parched, and to flag in the noontide heat. Altogether it was a regular
soaking morning; and, after being very tired overnight, when people get
up on these very wet soaky mornings they are liable to get low-spirited,
and to feel dull--there is a want of elasticity in the air, and the
consequence is that folks feel yawny, or gapish, whichever is the best
word; and after looking out at the gloomy prospect--for places will look
rather gloomy in these heavy rains, which are very different things to
the soft, passing showers which lay the parched dust, and when the sun
shines forth brighter than ever soon after, and makes the pearly drops
glitter and sparkle where they hang to spray or leaf--I say, after
looking out at the gloomy prospect, people often turn round and look at
their bed, and the nice comfortably-shaped impression they left there;
and I have known people so weak as to get into bed again and go to
sleep; and amongst those weak enough to get into bed was Fred; but he
would have required to have been strong enough to go to sleep, for,
directly after, Harry and Philip charged into the room nearly dressed;
and seeing what Fred had been doing, they seized the clothes, whisked
them off, and then pretended to smother the poor idler with his own
pillow.
"Now ain't that sneaky, Phil, to call two fellows up and then go and
crawl into bed again? Fetch the sponge."
But Fred did not wait for the sponge, for he began to shuffle into his
clothes as hard as ever he could.
"Well, look what a miserable, cold, wet morning it is," said the
sluggard.
Harry ran to the window and looked out, and then made a grimace at the
weather. "Oh," said he, "what a bother; and we were going up the Camp
Hill botanising."
"No, we weren't," said Philip; "Papa said we should not go till Monday."
"Good job, too," said Harry; "but never mind, we'll find something to
do, see if we don't. Oh! I know; Papa promised to bring out the
microscope last sight and show us the insects, only we all went to
sleep. I was so jolly tired."
"You weren't so tired as I was," said Philip.
"Yes, I was," said Harry, "ever so much more."
"I know you weren't," said Philip.
"How do you know that?" said Harry.
"How do you know that you were?" said Philip.
"Because I felt so," said Harry.
"Well, so did I," said Philip.
"Oh! bother," said Harry, finding no bottom to the argument. "I know
who was most tired; it was Fred, for he went to sleep first with a bit
of bread and butter in his mouth."
"I didn't," said Fred, indignantly.
"That you did; didn't he, Philip? and Pa and Ma both laughed at him; and
I wasn't so sleepy but that I saw Pa get Kirby and Spence's `Tomology'
down to read, and lean back in his chair himself--now then!"
During this dispute no progress was made in the dressing; but, upon
Harry suggesting that they should go and peep at the specimens they
obtained on the previous evening, they all scrambled through the rest of
their dressing, and hurried down to the Study, where all the boxes had
been placed overnight.
Harry finished dressing first, and would have run down stairs, but was
prevented by Philip, who locked the door, and then passed the key to
Fred, so that Master Harry was compelled to wait until the others were
ready. At last they descended by sliding down the banisters, Philip
leading off, and Harry nearly upsetting him at the bottom by sliding
down too quickly and coming into sharp contact. At last they burst,
pell-mell, into the study, as if they were soldiers about to sack a
town, and perhaps, too, a little more impetuously.
"Gently, gently," said Mr Inglis, who was sitting there reading;
"what's the matter?"
"Oh! Papa, we did not know you were here; we came to look at the
specimens," said Philip.
But the specimens were not to be touched till the afternoon, for Mr
Inglis was going over to the town. But he promised that the microscope
should be brought out in the evening, and then sent the boys into the
breakfast parlour, where they found Mrs Inglis making the tea.
Breakfast being finished, Mr Inglis started off through the miserable,
wet, drenching morning, and the boys were left to amuse themselves as
best they could, which they did by getting ready their fishing-tackle
for the promised trip to Lord Copsedale's lake, which had been almost
forgotten, so many amusements had been awaiting them day after day; but
which it was now decided by Harry should take place on the following
Tuesday morning.
To the great delight of all, about twelve o'clock the clouds began to
break, and the sun to peep out, so that by the time Mr Inglis returned
it was quite a fine afternoon, and he promised that he would go with
them in the evening to destroy the wasps' nest, while the afternoon
being so fine left them at liberty to have a run and amuse themselves
with out-door sports,--always remembering, that the microscope was to be
brought out in the evening, the taking of the wasps' nest being only
looked upon as a small portion of what was to be done.
Mr Inglis got very little assistance over the arrangement of his
specimens, for the excitement of catching them being past, Harry and
Philip cared very little for the more delicate operations of pinning out
and arranging, which required great care and nicety--the tender wings of
a butterfly showing every rude touch and finger-mark in the despoiled
feathers or plumes with which its pinions are adorned.
Mr Inglis was sitting in his study very busily engaged in this manner,
and surrounded with entomological pins, when he saw the boys dash by the
window in company with Dick to hunt for water-rats by the river side.
Dick had be willing enough to go, for weather seemed no object to him--
hail, rain, or sunshine, he was always ready for a hunt, race, or
anything, and, by his actions, showed that he would far rather run after
nothing at all than be tied-up by his kennel; this tying up being a task
not easy to perform unless he was tired out, for Dick used to be seized
with deaf fits upon these occasions, and would scamper off in some other
direction, and at last have to be hunted out and ignominiously dragged
to his chain, most likely by one ear, as we have seen when he was out
after the snakes; for a lover of liberty was Dick, one who abhorred
chains as fully as any negro dragged from the burning coast of Africa;
but the poor fellow was compelled to wear the chain for long hours every
day, and therefore his reluctance to return to his collar when, once he
was free of it. But upon this afternoon the dog was in full enjoyment
of his liberty, and off to the river side, as I have said before, to
have a rat hunt.
It was a capital hunt the boys had that afternoon, although nothing was
captured; still Dick almost had hold of one great wet fellow by the
tail, which he just managed to save by dashing into his hole as the dog
came up to it, and stood barking and snapping his teeth because he was
so disappointed. There was no end of rat holes in the bank overhanging
the river, but it appeared as though the little animals had an
instinctive aversion to making the acquaintance of a dog, for snug
enough they kept themselves in the above-named holes, and, as it
appeared after a couple of hours' search that no rats were to be
obtained, the lads slowly sauntered back to the Grange in rather a
disappointed frame of mind. But the boys consoled themselves with the
idea that there was to be some good fun in the evening, when the wasps'
nest would be taken; and at last, without any further adventure than
that of Dick hunting somebody's ducklings through the horse-pond, and
having to be pelted with large pebbles to keep him from catching one of
them--greatly to the disgust of the owner, who would have been in a
great passion, only he knew to whom the dog belonged, and also knew that
if any mischief befel the ducklings he would be well recompensed for his
loss. However, Dick was persuaded to leave the pond at last, and, after
making a sort of canine fountain of himself as he shook the water out of
his coat, he consented to walk quietly home behind his young masters,
and was safely chained up by his kennel, to doze away the time, with the
raven for company, until the next run he could obtain with the boys.
As soon as tea was over, Mr Inglis made preparations for taking the
wasps' nest, by making Harry take a spade and dig out a piece of stiff
yellow clay from down by the little gravel pit; and then, after he had
well-kneaded the mass, the fumigating bellows were once more obtained,
plenty of hot cinders placed inside, and upon them a small quantity of
flour of brimstone; after which the garden was crossed, the plantation
reached, and the fallen tree reconnoitred.
The sun was just setting, and the busy day hum of the wasps hushed to a
faint, low murmur, while not a single insect could be seen either going
in or out of the hole. Mr Inglis then made Harry apply the mass of
clay to the nozzle of the bellows, and fix it tightly round them, so
that when the instrument was applied to the hole the clay could be
pushed close up, and every cranny closed by the plastic mass, so that
nothing but the deadly vapour would go in.
At last all was ready, and the first puff was given by Philip, for he
was operating under the direction of his father. At that first puff of
the bellows the faint hum within the fallen tree increased to almost a
roar, as the infuriated little insects vainly rushed about to gain an
exit from the suffocating prison in which they were closely confined.
Upon hearing the noise Philip almost dropped the bellows, but, at a word
from his father, he kept on steadily--puff--puff--puff, till the noise
within the tree grew fainter and fainter, and at last entirely ceased;
and then they knew that the fatal work was done then the bellows were
withdrawn, the hole carefully closed up with clay, and the tree left as
it was till the Monday morning, when Sam was to get some wedges and a
beetle and split it open, so as to obtain the nest without damage, if
possible. Harry was for having the tree split at once, but Mr Inglis
was of opinion that it had better be left as it was for the time, and
led the way towards the house.
As soon as they were all seated in the dining-room, Mr Inglis brought
out the large mahogany box containing the microscope, with the different
specimens which he had prepared for inspection, and Fred was soon
astonished with the wonder which he saw, such as flies' eyes, displaying
within themselves innumerable other tiny eyes, each evidently possessing
its own powers of vision. Then there was down off a butterfly's wing;
the wings of flies; the wing-cases of beetles, displaying colours of the
most gorgeous hues, and glittering like precious stones; tiny insects,
such as seen creeping upon the opening buds of roses: and all these,
with numberless other things, were displayed to the astonished boy's
gaze. Most of these had been seen by Harry and Philip many times
before, so that Fred had a very long inspection of the microscopical
wonders, and was greatly puzzled to understand how many hundreds of
times any little object could be magnified; and, on afterwards looking
beside the microscope at the speck upon the glass plate, which, when he
looked through the instrument, had appeared to be of the most gorgeous
tints, he could scarcely believe that both objects were the same; and he
kept taking his eye from the instrument to look down the side, and then,
with a wondering air, back again.
And so the evening quickly passed away, for Mr Inglis had a large
collection of objects for the microscope, and, what was more, a genial
way of chatting about them, imparting plenty of useful knowledge at the
same time, but in so interesting a manner that the boys were never-tired
of listening, and would hardly believe it when they heard at last it was
bed-time.