laid up for repairs was beginning to get on our nerves. Sahwah remarked
that if we had set out to walk to Chicago we would have been there long
ago, and that the rate at which we were progressing reminded her of
that gymnasium exercise known as "running in place", where you use up
enough energy to cross the county and are just as tired as if you had
gone that far, while in reality you haven't gotten away from the spot.

Nakwisi stood up on a little rise of ground and focused her spy-glass
in the direction of Chicago and said she had better try to get a look
at the Forbidden City from there because she might never get any
nearer.

Nyoda had torn her green veil on her hatpin and the wind had whipped
the loose ends out until they looked ragged and she was frankly cross.

"When lovely woman stoops to folly,
And learns too late that veils do fray--"

chanted Sahwah, trying to be funny, but no one even laughed at her. We
were too much exhausted from the heat and too busy wiping the
perspiration out of our eyes.

As a town of that size must necessarily come to an end soon, we found
ourselves after a while, beyond its limits and on a country road. We
saw a great tree spreading out its shady branches at no great distance
and made for it. With various sighs and puffs of satisfaction we sank
down in the grass and made ourselves comfortable. Of all the sights we
had seen so far on our trip the sight of that tree gave us the most
pleasure. We had not sat there very long when a young man passed us in
the road. He was the light-haired young man we had seen in the repair