AUNT MELISSY HAD ARRANGED A BUNDLE FOR UNCLE SILAS, AND SHE HAD FIXED UP THE HIRED MAN TOO
"It was pretty early when we started, for it was getting dangerous to camp out in that section, and we wanted to get as far as we could the first day, though we didn't any of us have any idea then how long a trip we would make that day, nor of the way we were going to make it. Nobody could guess a guess like that, even if he was the best guesser in the world and made his living that way."
Mr. 'Possum stopped to light his pipe again, and said that if anybody wanted a chance to guess how far they went that first day and how they travelled, they could guess now. But the Hollow Tree People said they didn't want to guess, and they did want Mr. 'Possum to go ahead and tell them about it.
"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "we travelled fifty miles that first day, and we travelled it in less than two hours."
"Fifty miles in two hours!" said all the Hollow Tree People. And Jack Rabbit said:
"Why, a menagerie like that couldn't travel fifty miles in two years!"
"But we did, though," said Mr. 'Possum; "we travelled it in a balloon."
"In a balloon!"