CHAP, XXVII.—TOM PREPARES A NEW SURPRISE.

YN

ee was soon to go to school, to learn
} what other boys learnt before they grew
up into men. He did not like lessons at all,
and yet he wanted to know everything; so, of
course, as learning was the only way to do it,
he had to learn, whether he liked it or not.
He was still very busy collecting wood to
build his ship, and Archie was helping him,
for he had promised to take Archie with him,
as he was just as eager to see freezing cold
Iceland and burning hot India, and to ride on
a camel’s back through the deserts of Arabia,
as Tom was. But though the ship was not
even begun to be built, Tom felt much more
content to wait, knowing now, as he did, that
everybody round him had often to wait for
what they most wanted—the seeds before