He had been provident enough to bring some sandwiches in his pockets (provided at the last moment by the much-enduring Walker), and on the strength of these he laboured half the morning.

It would puzzle me to explain on what scientific principle the wonderful apparatus was laid down, what mixture between the wing of a bird, the tail of a fish, and the screw of a steamer it embodied.

I never was good at mechanics, and certainly Percy Rimbolt's mechanics were such as it is given but to few to follow.

Suffice it to say that by eleven o'clock the structure had reached a critical stage, and stood still for want of the cork which Appleby had been charged to procure.
The day was hot, and an hour at least must elapse before the messenger could return from Overstone.

Percy, therefore, improved the shining hour by a bathe in the clear stream, with whose depths he was evidently familiar.