"If you had read the Instructions you would have seen that the plan of a tour of a week is on quite a different scale from that of a tour of a fortnight or a month. You must decide now which you will take." I stuck to the week, and we filled up the necessary forms for Tour No. 1. "Your conductor will be Sub-Conductor of Foreign Observers Sheep," he said next. "My conductor?" I exclaimed. "Is it necessary to have a conductor?" "You are not still in Luniland," he replied testily, "and I must again remind you that if you had read the extracts from the Law with reference to Foreign Observers you would not have asked the question. Sub-Conductor Sheep will be here in five minutes," he said, evidently anxious to get rid of me, "and as soon as you have discharged this bill of expenses he will take you to the Hotel for Foreign Observers, and you will begin your tour." Here he handed me a sort of invoice containing the following items:-- To food, 5s.; to bed, one night, 4s.; to medical examination, 10s.; to temporary garments, 2s.; to service, 2s.--total, 23s. There was certainly nothing exorbitant about the charges; all the same, I grudged the 10s. for the medical examination. CHAPTER II BRIDGETOWN, TOUR No. 1 Sub-conductor of Foreign Observers Sheep came in as I was paying the bill. He was a well-set-up man about fifty, and had the appearance of an old Non-Com. He looked quiet and rather stolid. I never saw him smile during the whole week I was with him, but he was not offensive in his manner. Like Inspector Stiff he wore a green uniform, but one with fewer facings and with chocolate-coloured buttons. Before we started to walk across to the hotel he asked if I had got my pocket-diary. I fished out a small notebook, such as I had used in Luniland for marking engagements. "That is of no use for the purpose," he informed me. "You must have one like this"; and he showed me a book about six inches by four inches, with four pages for each day. "Oh!" I said, "I shall never need all that; besides, it is spaced for a month only." In a perfectly matter-of-fact voice he said calmly, "Every person in Meccania uses a pocket-diary like this. You will find it indispensable in order that you may make your entries correctly in your weekly diary for the Time Department." "The what department?" I asked, rather puzzled. "The Time Department: but never mind; I will explain all that in its proper place. We will get a pocket-diary as we go along."