is calculated to strike terror to the heart. He is
daringly ugly, with a chin that curves in under his lip
and then out in a peak, like pictures of Punch. She wore
a gray gown of a style I never had seen before and never
expect to see again. It was fastened with huge black
buttons all the way down the breathlessly tight front,
and the upper part was composed of that pre-historic
garment known as a basque. She curved in where she
should have curved out, and she bulged where she should
have had "lines." About her neck was suspended a string
of cannon-ball beads that clanked as she walked. On her
forehead rested a sparse fringe.

"Mein Himmel!" thought I. "Am I dreaming? This
isn't Wisconsin. This is Nurnberg, or Strassburg, with
a dash of Heidelberg and Berlin thrown in. Dawn, old
girl, it's going to be more instructive than a Cook's
tour."

That turned out to be the truest prophecy I ever
made.

The first surprising thing that the new-comers did
was to seat themselves at the long table with the other
aborigines, the lady aborigine being the only woman among
the twelve men. It was plain that they had known one
another previous to this meeting, for they became very
good friends at once, and the men grew heavily humorous
about there being thirteen at table.