Suddenly we had a simultaneous
inspiration, and returning to the house we fetched two bottles of
light claret, which we poured carefully into the natural cisterns
of two more trees, which we marked. Late in the afternoon we
conducted the M.P. to the grove of Travellers' Trees, handed him a
glass, and made him gash the stem of one of them with his pen
knife. Thanks to our preparation, it gushed water like one of the
Trafalgar Square fountains, and the touring legislator was able to
satisfy himself that it was good drinking-water. He had previously
been making some inquiries about so-called "Palm-wine," which is
merely the fermented juice of the toddy-palm. We told him that
some Travellers' Palms produced this wine, and with a slight
exercise of ingenuity we induced him to tap one of the trees we
had doctored with claret. Naturally, a crimson liquid spouted into
his glass in response to the thrust of his pen-knife, and after
tasting it two or three times, he reluctantly admitted that its
flavour was not unlike that of red wine. It ought to have been,
considering that we had poured an entire bottle of good sound
claret into that tree.
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