A tour of the rooms was made at once, and an
exact estimate taken of the possible number of beds. Besides two other
members of the staff, who joined the pioneers at Borth, the school
medical officer had come down to meet us, and reported on what lay within
his province. Meanwhile two of the party were conducted by mine host to
explore a "cricket-ground" close to the hotel, or at least a plot of
ground to which adhered a fading tradition of a match between two local
elevens. The "pitch" was conjecturally identified among some rough
hillocks, over the sandy turf of which swept a wild northwester, "shrill,
chill, with flakes of foam," and now and then a driving hailstorm across
the shelterless plain. So little hospitable was our welcome to a home
from which we were sometime to part not without regretful memories.
Next day, March 16th, a contract was signed, which gave us the tenancy of
the hotel till July 21st, with power to renew the contract at will for a
further term after the summer holidays. Our landlord, Mr. C. Mytton, was
to provide board (according to a specified dietary) and bed (at least bed-
room) for all who could be lodged in his walls, and board (with light and
firing) for the whole party; to supply the service for the kitchen, and
to undertake the laundry.
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