sleep over it, and let you know to-morrow when I can get away." So the
pair separated, to retire for the night and dream a knapsack nightmare.

Coristine's leave did not come till the following Tuesday, so that
Friday, Saturday and Monday--or parts of them, at least--could be
devoted to the work of preparation. Good, strong, but not too heavy,
tweed walking suits were ordered, and a couple of elegant flannel shirts
that would not show the dirt were laid in; a pair of stout, easy boots
was picked out, and a comfortable felt hat, with brim enough to keep off
the sun. Then the lawyer bought his cardboard and his patent cloth and
straps, and spent Saturday evening with his friend and a sharp penknife,
bringing the knapsacks into shape. The scientists made a mistake in
producing black and shiny articles, well calculated to attract the heat.
White canvas would have been far better. But Wilkinson had taken his
model from the military, hence it had to be black. The folded ends of
the patent cloth, which looked like leather, were next to the wearer's
back, so that what was visible to the general public was a very
respectable looking flat surface, fastened round the shoulders with
becoming straps, equally dark in hue. "Sure, Farquhar, it's pack-men the
ignorant hayseeds will be taking us for," said Coristine, when the
prospective pedestrians had strapped on their shiny baggage holders. "I
do not agree with you there," replied the schoolmaster; "Oxford and
Cambridgemen, and the best _litterateurs_ of England, do Wales and
Cornwall, the Lakes and the Trossachs, to say nothing of Europe, dressed
just as we are." "All right, old man, but I'm thinking I'll add a
bandanna handkerchief and a blackthorn. They'll come in handy to carry
the fossils over your shoulder. There now, I've forgot the printers'
paper and the strap flower press for my specimens. True, there's Monday
for that; but I'm afraid I'll have to shave the boards of the flower
press down, or it'll be a sorry burden for a poor, tired botanist. Good