Our
Lord. This Way of the Cross is a celebrated place of devotion to the
pious people of Buda Pesth. As he passed the mountain he saluted a party
of ladies and gentlemen standing on the shore. One of the gentlemen
hailed him in German with the request to slack up a little and they
would come off in a boat. Paul complied with their request and stood
upright in the water and drifted quietly along. The boat was soon beside
him: it contained two ladies, evidently mother and daughter, and two
gentlemen. The daughter, about eighteen years of age, was, in Paul's
estimation, the most lovely girl he had ever seen. He gazed with a
look of admiration on her wondrous beauty and paid but little
attention to the shower of questions that were put to him in
Hungarian-German by the male members of the party. In his best German,
he asked her what he already knew, that was, "how far it was to Buda
Pesth?"

She smiled and answered in French, "about thirty-five miles. I presume
you can speak French better than German?"

This was just what Paul wanted. She now acted as interpreter for the
whole party and her sweet voice drove away all feeling of fatigue. As
the current was driving the party rapidly down, the mother suggested
that it was time that they should say good-bye. Before going, one of
the gentlemen asked through the young lady, "if M. le Capitaine would
take a glass of wine?"

Paul responded, "that it was pretty early in the morning for a toast,
but if he was permitted to drink to the health of Hungary's fairest
daughter, he would sacrifice himself."

With a musical laugh she handed him a glass filled with sparkling Tokay.
A general hand shake all around followed and as Paul's rubber-covered,
wet hand grasped that of the young lady, he begged her to present him
with the bunch of violets she had pinned to her breast, as a memento of
the pleasant moments he spent in her company. She complied with his
request, he gallantly kissed them and pushed them through the
rubber opening of the face piece, down into his breast.

As he resumed paddling, the thought occurred to him, that the frank
cordiality of the male occupants of the boat had undergone a
decided change, and their farewell was a little more formal than their
introduction; but he paid little attention to that and struck away
for Buda Pesth with a strong steady pull, while he hummed:

"Her bright smile haunts me still."