There was nothing for it but to obey, and with a comical look at us Jack followed him out of the room. His presence of mind quite forsook him here. He should have taken off his great coat, and left it behind. But he did not think of that, and so, as Mr. Porbury was making his tour of inspection, he, curiously enough, noticed the same smell in every room they entered. You may be sure we waited in great anxiety for Jack’s return. In a few minutes he rushed back into the room, choking with laughter, and, flinging himself on his bed, began to relieve his feelings by kicking up his heels, and writhing about convulsively. “Oh, dear! oh, dear! What a joke! I never saw anything like it. Oh! I say, you fellows, hold me together, or I’ll split with laughing. Oh, dear!” “What’s the matter? Did he twig the duck?” we inquired, anxiously. “Not a bit of him,” shouted Jack, drawing it forth from his pocket in triumph. “Every room we went into he snuffed about, and said, ‘very curious; there’s the same smell here.’ At length he thought it must be coming from the kitchen—oh, dear! I shall never get over it;” and Jack rolled about, and screamed, till the tears ran down his cheeks, and he could laugh no longer. Only, for the next half hour or so, he was always threatening to burst out into another explosion, and exclaiming, “Well, I can’t help it. To think how neatly Porbury was taken in. What a splendid joke!” Not having such a keen sense of the ludicrous as Jack, our mirth was not so boisterous, but we were greatly relieved to find that our duck was safe. It was thought prudent, however, to put off the feast for a little, in case we should again be interrupted. But at the end of half-an-hour our impatience overcame our prudence. “The Doctor has a dinner-party to-day, so he’s safe not to come near us,” said Jack. “And Porbury’s sure to be at it. He wasn’t at our dinner, you know.” So we set to work at once upon the duck, which Jack divided by tearing off the legs and wings, and giving one to each of us. The body he kept to himself, and I think he had the best of the bargain. But Jack, as I said before, was one of those fellows who manage to get the best of everything for themselves. I remember we thought him very generous when he cut off a piece of the breast with his pocket knife, and gave it to Howard, to whose lot had fallen the wing that had been burned in the process of cooking.