ast
twenty to one."

"The Austrians are a polite, agreeable, but volatile race," said Mr.
Anson. "They are brave, but in war they are usually beaten. Napoleon
made his early reputation out of the Austrians. They are--wait a minute,
John, and I will read you more about them from this excellent book on
Austria that I bought in Dresden."

"Excuse me this time; won't you, sir. We're coming to another station,
and the crowd is bigger than ever. I want to see if they cheer us more
than they did at the one a few miles back."

When they were beyond the town John turned his attention to the
occupants of the compartment who had now increased to ten. They did not
differ from ordinary travelers, but his attention was held longest by a
young man, not much above his own age. He was handsome and blonde with a
fine open face, and John put him down as a Viennese. He knew that the
Viennese, although fellow Germans, were much unlike the Berliners, their
souls being more akin to those of the French.

He could not remember at what station the young man had boarded the
train, but it was evident that he was already weary, as his head rested
heavily against the cushion and his eyelids drooped. "A good fellow, I'm
sure," said John to himself. "I'd like to know him. I hope he's going on
to Vienna with us."

They were well across the Austrian border now, and an officer came
through the train, asking for passports. Luckily, John and Mr. Anson had
provided themselves with such documents, not because they believed them
of any value, but, as John said, they always ran true to form, and if
any official paper were offered they meant to have their share of it.
Now they found these documents, considered worthless hitherto, very
useful. The Austrian officer smiled when he looked at them.

"Amerikanischer," he said, showing his large, even white teeth. "I haf a
cousin leeving in New York."

"I've no doubt he's a fine fellow," said John, as the officer passed on,
"and I wish I knew him. I believe it's true, Mr. Anson, that we
Americans are the spoiled children of the world."

"It's so, John, although I object to the adjective, 'spoiled' and it's
so because we're far away, and mind our own business. Of course a
democracy like ours does many foolish things, and often we make
ourselves look ridiculous, but remember John, that we're an honest,
straight-forward people, and it's foreign to all our nature to tread on
the weak or cower before the strong."