no plan for exploring the region, no intention of settling there, was
merely idling away a summer in the wilderness and would then go back
to civilization never to return, at least, not that way; might go west
across the plains, but that would be farther south. They talked on,
one much, the other little; after a time, Waring, whose heart had been
warmed by his flask, began to extol his ways and means.

'Live? I live like a prince,' he said. 'See these tin cases; they
contain concentrated stores of various kinds. I carry a little tea,
you see, and even a few lumps of white sugar as a special treat now
and then on a wet night.

'Did you buy that sugar at the Sault?' said the old man, eagerly.

'O no; I brought it up from below. For literature I have this small
edition of Shakespeare's sonnets, the cream of the whole world's
poetry; and when I am tired of looking at the trees and the sky, I
look at this, Titian's lovely daughter with her upheld salver of
fruit. Is she not beautiful as a dream?'

'I don't know much about dreams,' replied old Fog, scanning the small
picture with curious eyes 'but isn't she a trifle heavy in build? They
dress like that nowadays, I suppose,--flowered gowns and gold chains
around the waist?'

'Why, man, that picture was painted more than three centuries ago.'

'Was it now? Women don't alter much, do they?' said old Fog, simply.
'Then they don't dress like that nowadays?'