means having many titles. I'm sure you have more than most people.'

'Very well, then! I'll overlook the irreverence this time, and
announce that I shall not take anything whatever to read, but simply
reflect upon what I know already.'

'That may last for the first week,' said Bell, slyly, 'but what will
you do afterward?'

'I'll reflect upon what you don't know,' retorted Polly. 'That will
easily occupy me two months.'

Fortunately, at the very moment this stinging remark was made, Phil
Noble dashed up to the front gate, flung his bridle over the
hitching-post, and lifted his hat from a very warm brow.

'Hail, chief of the commissary department!' cried Geoffrey, with mock
salute. 'Have you despatched the team?'

'Yes; everything is all right,' said Phil, breathlessly, delivering
himself of his information in spasmodic bursts of words. 'Such a lot
of work it was! here's the list. Pancho will dump them on the ground
and let us settle them when we get there. Such a load! You should
have seen it! Hardly room for him to sit up in front with the
Chinaman. Just hear this,' and he drew a large document from what
Polly called 'a back-stairs pocket.'

'Forty cans corned beef, four guns, three Dutch cheeses, pickles,
fishing-tackle, flour, bacon, three bushels onions, crate of dishes,
Jack's banjo, potatoes, Short History of the English People, cooking