the Frau would herself have put me into the
tub she made ready in the bedroom had I not begged for a dish of her
sauerkraut and corned beef.

Cleansed and filled, I was given no peace until she had me safe between
clean, dry sheets in their canopied fourposter. Having then been given
sufficient respite to write a note of explanation to the senor, I rolled
over and sank into that profound slumber of which I had so great need.

I awoke to find the sun up a good two hours and the hospitable couple
beaming upon me as brightly as the sunrays which shone in through the
diamond panes of the latticed window. The Frau held up my buckskins, all
cleansed and dried and softened; the man showed my list, with every item
checked and double checked, and a receipt from the party to whom I had
agreed to deliver my last mount.

Between them I soon learned that the flatboat was well stocked for the
voyage, and that the senor had sent word he was about to go aboard with
his party. This last would have forced me to rise and accept the good
wife's intended assistance with my dressing, had she not feared that I
should rush off before she could serve my breakfast. I gulped my coffee
while she tied on my moccasins. There was no question of other garments
than my buckskins, since saddle and all had been stored aboard the flat.
When I at last made my escape, it was with a hot sausage in either hand.
These German delicacies followed the rye bread and coffee which had gone
before, while I was riding to the wharf in my host's rattling ox-cart.

Greatly to my relief, despite the plodding pace of our beasts, we were
first to reach the boat. I had time to overhaul the craft and say
farewell to my good German friend. As he drove off, gruff-voiced but
beaming, the well-remembered cherry-wood carriage came churning through
the mire. The senor had retained the right to use it for this last
service.

I was at the door, with my hand on the knob, as the driver swung
around. The senor stepped out, with a sonorous, "_Buenos dias_, doctor!"
For a fraction of a moment he seemed about to turn. Then he stepped
aside, and left my way clear.

My lady drew out an arm from the depths of her great ermine muff. Her
plump, bare little hand lay in my brown fingers like a snowy jasmine
bloom. There was mockery in the depths of her eyes, but the scarlet lips
arched in a not unkindly smile.

"_Buenos dias_, senor!" she greeted me.

"It is truly a good day which bring