"Then," continued Miss Davies, "we take turns, starting with the word
'margarine' and making a chain, each word being connected in some way with
the one before it. And whoever can get to the word 'hippopotamus' first has
won."
"One hippopotamus?" asked John.
"WON," said Miss Davies sweetly.
Her brother groaned again.
"I'll just give you an easy example," went on Miss Davies enthusiastically,
"and then we'll begin. Take the words 'fire' and 'nigger.' A good chain
would be 'fire--coal--black--nigger.' Do you see?
John and I made sounds expressing that we thought we did. Davies just went
on groaning.
"Very well," said Miss Davies, "we'll begin. Now don't forget. We start
with 'margarine' and try to get to 'hippopotamus.' The great thing is to
keep the word 'hippopotamus' in your mind all the time and keep trying to
work towards it. Are you ready? Right! I'll start with 'grease.'"
"Greece?" said John, looking startled.
"Yes, margarine--grease," explained Miss Davies.
"Oh, I see," said John, "er--oil."