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/ Harris had the beefstead pie between his knees, and was carving it, and George \
| and I were waiting with our plates ready.                                      |
|         "Have you got a spoon there?" says Harris; "I want a spoon to help     |
| the gravy with."                                                               |
|         The hamper was close behind us, and George and I both turned round to  |
| reach one out.  We were not five seconds getting it.  When we looked round     |
| again, Harris and the pie were gone!                                           |
|         It was a wide, open field.  There was not a tree or a bit of hedge for |
| hundreds of yards.  He could not have tumbled into the river, because we were  |
| on the water side of him, and he would have had to climb over us to do it.     |
|         George and I gazed all about.  Then we gazed at each other.            |
|         "Has he been snatched up to heaven?" I queried.                        |
|         "They'd hardly have taken the pie, too," said George.                  |
|         There seemed weight in this objection, and we discarded the heavenly   |
| theory.                                                                        |
|         "I suppose the truth of the matter is," suggested George, descending   |
| to the commonplace and practicable, "that there has been an earthquake."       |
|         And then he added, with a touch of sadness in his voice: "I wish he    |
| hadn't been carving that pie."                                                 |
\                 -- Jerome K. Jerome, "Three Men In A Boat"                     /
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        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
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According to the Fact Sphere: "Edmund Hilary, the first person to climb Mt. Everest, did so accidentally, while chasing a bird."


In the spirit of William Shakespeare: Thou art a reeky, ill-nurtured harpy.