I did not
do badly myself, and only the bigger and stronger members of our society
and a few skins were there next day, when Francis brought a jar full of
minnows, a small carp, and a bull's-head, and turned them out in our
midst.
"How they dart and swim round and round!" he exclaimed.
"Splendid," said Molly. "I _am_ so sorry I am going away just now. You
will try and keep the water fresh, won't you?"
"Of course I will. And let me have the scarlet spider whilst you are
away. I couldn't find another."
"Well, if you must; but do take care, Francis. And here are the two
bits of gutta-percha tubing to make into syphons. You must put them into
hot water for a minute before you bend them, you know."
"I'll do it to-morrow, Molly; I have nothing else _to_ do, you know,
because Edward Brown won't be back for three or four days. So we can do
nothing about the cricket club."
It was on the third day, when both the pieces of gutta-percha tubing
were in a wash-hand basin of hot water, and the dragon-fly larva and I
were finishing a minnow, with the help of the water-scorpion, that
Master Edward Brown arrived unexpectedly, and so pressed his friend
Francis to come out and consult "just for two minutes," and so delayed
him when he got him, that the tubing melted into a shapeless lump, and
the carp died unnoticed by any one but myself.
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