Tommy Twister’s Discovery 283

good. I had forgotten that thing. ... Tell
you what!” he said with a sudden idea,
“with that warming apparatus of yours
we might make some of my penny ices
hot! Then I could sell boiling ices as
well as cold ones—most comforting on a
cold day! Look here, let’s go into part-
nership.”

“Very well,” said the boys. ‘And now
tell us all about the North Pole.”

‘Well—this is it that you see; only you
can't see it. That's because it’s covered
with ice; but underneath the ice there’s the
most wonderful country you can_ possibly
imagine — there isn’t a thing that doesn’t
grow here—toys, bottled ginger-beer, fire-
works, hardbake, cricket-matches, half-holi-
days—everything. Those things all grow
naturally, on trees, and shrubs, and out of
the ground without the trouble of making
them: only they’re covered with ice.”

“Oh, we'll soon put ¢hat right,” said
Tommy excitedly. ‘Stand clear!”

Then he pulled off a hatch, and gradually
the whole air was warmed for miles round ;