I said that I would pack.

After we had done that, we sat there and we looked at it.

We got a big suitcase for the clothes. There were two large baskets with lids, for the food and for the pans and things to cook with. We moved the table over to the window. Then we put everything in the middle of the floor.

I think that I am very good at packing. It is one of the things that I do best. So I told the others that I would organize it. They agreed to this idea too quickly. That was rather strange. George lit his pipe and sat back in the armchair. Harris put his feet on the table and lit a cigarette.

The next day, which was Friday, we collected all these things together. In the evening we met to pack.

This was not, of course, what I had expected. When I said that I would organize it, I meant that I would tell them what to do. Then I would sit and watch them do it.

However, I said nothing, and I started to pack the clothes. It took much longer than I had expected, but in the end it was finished. I sat on the suitcase and closed it. George and Harris watched me with great interest.

George laughed quietly.

I looked round, and saw the boots. Why did Harris wait until I had closed the suitcase?

I opened the suitcase, and I put the boots in. It was not easy! And just as I was going to close the suitcase again, an awful idea came to me. Had I packed my toothbrush?

I packed everything again.

'Aren't you going to put the boots in?'Harris asked.

Of course, I had to look for it, and, of course, I could not find it. I had to take everything out again. I found George's tooth-brush. I found Harris's toothbrush, but I could not find mine. In the end, I found it inside a boot.

I finished the suitcase at five past ten, and the food was still not packed!

I agreed, and I sat down.

When I had finished, George asked if the soap was in the suitcase. I said I did not care about the soap. I threw down the lid of the suitcase, and I closed it again. Then I found my cigarettes were inside it.

Harris said,'We have to start the holiday in twelve hours. Perhaps George and I had better do the rest of the packing. '

And then it was George's turn, and he stepped on the butter. I did not say anything, but I got up and went over to the table and watched them. This annoyed them more than anything, and it made them worried and excited. They stepped on things, and they put things behind them. And then they could not find them when they wanted them. They packed soft things at the bottom of the basket, and then put heavy things on top of them.

They began quite happily. I said nothing. I only waited. I looked at all the plates and cups, and bottles, and tomatoes, and cakes, etc. I felt that it was soon going to get exciting.

Then it got worse. After George got the butter off his shoe, they tried to put it in the teapot. At first they could not get it in. Then, when they did get it in, they decided that the teapot was the wrong place. But they could not get the butter out again. However, in the end they did manage to get it out and they put it down on a chair. Harris sat on it, and when he stood up, the butter stuck to his trousers. Then they looked for the butter all over the room. In the end, George got behind Harris, and he saw it.

It did. They started by breaking a cup. That was just to show you what they could do and to get you interested. Then Harris packed a pan on top of a tomato and…well, they had to pick out the tomato with a teaspoon.

'There it is!'he cried.

Harris said,'Seven. '

'Where?'Harris asked, and he turned round quickly.

The packing was completed at ten to one in the morning, and we all went to bed. George said,'What time shall I wake you two?'

'Stand still!'George shouted.

When they got the butter off Harris, they packed it in the teapot again.

In the end we said,'Wake us at half past six, George. '

I said'Six. '

Montmorency was in all this, of course. He sat down on things just when George and Harris were going to pack them; he put his leg into the sugar; he ran away with the teaspoons. He pretended that the oranges were rats, and he got into the food basket and killed three of them.