humbly for a solid hour while your very simple meal is prepared. If
you do not happen to be hungry, this is only a delightful interlude in
the incessant rush of modern life, but if perchance Nature has endowed
you with a moderate appetite, that one hour seems incurably long.

All went well the first night, or at least my fellow passengers showed
no signs of there being anything unusual, so like Brer Rabbit, I lay
low and said nothing. At noon the following day a slightly bigger and
more prolonged jolt caused the curious among us to look from the
window. The engine, tender, and luggage van were derailed. As the
speed of the trains never exceeds twenty-five miles an hour, such
little _contretemps_ which occur from time to time do not ruffle the
serenity of those concerned. Resigning myself to a delay of a few
hours, I determined to alight and explore the country. But alas! I had
no mosquito veiling, and to stand for a moment outside without this
protection was to risk disfigurement for life. So I humbly yielded to
adverse circumstances and returned to try and read, the previous
bumping having made this out of the question. But the interior was by
this time a veritable Gehenna, and no ventilation could be obtained,
as the Company had not thought it necessary to provide their windows
with screens. For twenty-five hours we remained in durance vile, until
at last the relief train lumbered to our rescue and conveyed us to
Run-by-Guess, our destination.

_Northward Bound. On board_
_June 25_

If you could have been present during the return journey from
Run-by-Guess your worst prophecies would have seemed to you justified.
The railroad is of the genus known as narrow-gauge; the roadbed was
not constructed on the principles laid down by the Romans. In a
country where the bones of Mother Earth protrude so insistently, it is
beating the devil round the stump to mend the bed with fir branches
tucked even ever so solicitously under the ties. That, nevertheless,
was an attempt at "safety first" which I saw.

Towards morning a furious rain and wind storm broke over us. Before
many minutes I noticed that my berth was becoming both cold and damp.
Looking up I made out in the dim dawn a small but persistent stream
pouring down upon me. I had had the upper berth pushed up so as to
get the air! Again the train came to an unscheduled stop. By this time
assorted heads were emerging from behind the curtains, and from each
came