"Not very much. Phil's told a good share of what I had found out. I think I know where some of the best coal-beds are, though."
Sam and Ted between them added a description of coal mining; Fred gave, as his share, a vivid account of the primeval forests, and the way the coal-beds were formed; while Rob contributed a few words about the fossils met with in the coal. Bess made a running commentary on the whole, and ended with a short account of the more common kindred substances: petroleum, illuminating gas, and the diamond. Then she looked at her watch.
"Half-past eight. Only half an hour for our games, boys."
"Is it really so late?" asked Ted incredulously. "This has been immense. What are we going to take next?"
"Well, Sam, that is for you to say." And Bess turned to the boy who was lounging in his chair, with one foot stretched in front of him, the other toe hooked around the leg of his chair.
"George Washington," he replied promptly, with a modest pride in the wisdom and novelty of his choice.
"You all hear it?" asked President Bess. "Rob, as secretary, I want you to keep a list of the subjects and their dates. Then, six months from now, we will have an evening when each one of you may take some one of these subjects and write all you have learned about it; and we will have these essays read before a small and select audience. That will be about the last of October. And one thing more I have to say before our games. I want my boys to be careful about their positions, to sit up straight like gentlemen, and not curl up like a set of small caterpillars."
The sudden effect of this last remark was comical to behold. Feet were firmly planted, backs straightened, shoulders squared, and coats pulled into place; while Teddy vainly tried to conceal a yawning chasm in the knee of his stocking, which had mysteriously appeared since his arrival.
Promptly as the clock struck nine, Bess sent her guests away, but not before Ted, from the front steps, led off in a rousing: "Rah! Rah! Rah! for the Inquisitive Investigators." They then departed, chanting at the top of their lungs, as an appropriate serenade:—
"The owl and the pussy-cat went to sea,
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note."