satisfaction of seeing that they attend to the directions inscribed on
it. It is placed, with great care, near the entrance to the van, on the
left, the side with the panels outward, as if it were the door of a
cupboard. And is not the box a cupboard? A cupboard I propose to open?

It remains to be seen if the guard in charge of the luggage is to
remain in this van. No. I find that his post is just outside it.

"There it is, all right!" said one of the porters, looking to see that
the case was as it should be, top where top should be, and so on.

"There is no fear of its moving," said another porter; "the glass will
reach Pekin all right, unless the train runs off the metals."

"Or it does not run into anything," said the other; "and that remains
to be seen."

They were right--these good fellows--it remained to be seen--and it
would be seen.

The American came up to me and took a last look at his stock of
incisors, molars and canines, with a repetition of his invariable "Wait
a bit."

"You know, Monsieur Bombarnac," he said to me, "that the passengers are
going to dine at the Hôtel du Czar before the departure of the train.
It is time now. Will you come with me?"

"I follow you."