No, all his energies were bent on finding out how it was that the straight hedgerows and square fields became round, while curving outlines grow straight in a moment, as if ruled with a measure, at the instant of their speeding by them; and, it occurred to him, or probably would have done so if he had given himself time for reflection, that the question of squaring the circle, which has perplexed the philosophers of all ages, was not so very difficult of solution after all--looking at the matter out of the window of a railway-carriage, that is! Yes, so it really appeared; for, everything seemed `at sixes and sevens,' the landscape having its middle distances and foreground irretrievably mixed up and its perspective gone mad, the country through which they passed resembling in this respect the land of topsy-turvey- dom! Bob's surprise, and wonder and delight, at all he saw became presently too great for him to remain silent any longer or to keep his thoughts to himself; so, affably forgetting his previous `snub' to his sister when _she_ had wished to express her feelings, he jerked in his head as suddenly as he had popped it out the moment before. "I say, Nell, isn't it jolly?" he exclaimed in eager accents. "Just look out with me and see how funny everything seems!" "Why, that was what I wanted to speak of a little while ago, only you wouldn't listen to me," replied Nellie, more good-humouredly than Bob would have answered under the circumstances. "It is nice, though, I must say!" "`Nice' indeed!" replied he indignantly. "It is just like a girl to say that. I call it `jolly,' nothing more nor less. There's no other word to express what a fellow feels; and I do wonder, Nell, at your putting it so tamely!" The girl laughed out merrily at this; and her smiling face, wreathed in dimples, expressed as much animation as her brother could have wished. "Do forgive me, Bob," she cried. "You are quite right. It is `jolly,' the fields flying by, the trees all jumping up when you least expect them, the hills coming close, and--everything! I have noticed them all; for, I've been looking out, too, Master Observer, and have eyes like you, old chappie!" "Ah, but you haven't seen all that I have," said Bob, mollified by Nellie's sympathetic accord. "Look at those little woolly lambs, there, frisking about, with their sedate old mothers standing by, watching the train with wondering eyes--" "Yes, I see, I see," said she, interrupting him. "What great big eyes they have, to be sure! I declare, too, I can hear them `baa' above all the noise of the railway!" Just at that moment, the engine gave a shriek of its steam-whistle, which startled the sheep and lambkins, sending them scuttling over to the other end of the field, in company with a number of skittish heifers and young colts, which kicked up their heels in such a funny way that Bob and Nellie both burst out laughing together in concert, in one burst as it were.