We retorted that the boy--by no means a William John--was at the bottom of our troubles, and then Scrymgeour said that he had always been against having a boy.

We had been opposed to a boy at first, too, fancying that we should enjoy doing our own cooking.

Seeing that there were so many of us, this should not have been difficult, but the kitchen was small, and we were always striking against each other and knocking things over.

We had to break a window-pane to let the smoke out; then Gilray, in kicking the stove because he had burned his fingers on it, upset the thing, and, before we had time to intervene, a leg of mutton jumped out and darted into the coal-bunk.

Jimmy foolishly placed our six tumblers on the window-sill to dry, and a gust of wind toppled them into the river.