'I know; we'll have a jungle in the garden.'

And the others agreed, and we talked about it till brek was over.
The little strangers only said 'I don't know' whenever we said
anything to them.

After brekker Oswald beckoned his brothers and sisters mysteriously
apart and said--

'Do you agree to let me be captain today, because I thought of it?'

And they said they would.

Then he said, 'We'll play Jungle Book, and I shall be Mowgli. The
rest of you can be what you like--Mowgli's father and mother, or
any of the beasts.'

'I don't suppose they know the book,' said Noel. 'They don't look
as if they read anything, except at lesson times.'

'Then they can go on being beasts all the time,' Oswald said.
'Anyone can be a beast.'

So it was settled.

And now Oswald--Albert's uncle has sometimes said he is clever at
arranging things--began to lay his plans for the jungle. The day
was indeed well chosen. Our Indian uncle was away; Father was
away; Mrs Blake was going away, and the housemaid had an afternoon