e mouth like hothouse grapes,
and, also, after each mouthful, making a complete bath necessary.
One of the French officers had a lump of ice which he broke into
pieces and divided with the others. They saluted magnificently many
times, and as each drowned the morsel in his tin cup of beer, one of
them cried with perfect simplicity: "C'est Paris!" This reminded me
that the ship's steward had placed much ice in my chop basket, and I
carried some of it to another car in which were five of the White
Sisters. For nineteen days I had been with them on the steamer, but
they had spoken to no one, and I was doubtful how they would accept
my offering. But the Mother Superior gave permission, and they took
the ice through the car window, their white hoods bristling with the
excitement of the adventure. They were on their way to a post still
two months' journey up the river, nearly to Lake Tanganyika, and for
three years or, possibly, until they died, that was the last ice
they would see.

At Bongolo station the division superintendent came in the car and
everybody offered him refreshment, and in return he told us, in the
hope of interesting us, of a washout, and then casually mentioned
that an hour before an elephant had blocked the track. It seemed so
much too good to be true that I may have expressed some doubt, for
he said: "Why, of course and certainly. Already this morning one was
at Sariski Station and another at Sipeto." And instead of looking
out of the window I had been reading an American magazine, filched
from the smoking-room, which was one year old!

At Thysville the railroad may have opened a hotel, but when I was
there to hunt for a night's shelter it turned you out bag and
baggage. The French officers decided to risk a Portuguese trading
store known as the "Ideal Hotel," and the missionaries very kindly
gave me the freedom of their Rest House. It is kept open for
those of the Mission who pass between the Upper and Lower Congo.
At the station the young missionaries were met by two older
missionaries--Mr. Weekes, who furnished the "Commission of Enquiry"
with much evidence, which they would not, or were not allowed to,
print, and Mr. Jennings. With them were twenty "boys" from the
Mission and, with each of them carrying a piece of our baggage on
his head, we climbed the hill, and I was given a clean, comfortable,
completely appointed bedroom. Our combined chop we turned over to a
black brother. He is the custodian