it, this second
man approaches the rail near the other and leans his elbows upon it.
Presently he takes a package of chewing gum from his coat pocket,
selects two pieces, puts them into his mouth and begins to chew. Then he
spits idly into space, idly but homerically, a truly stupendous
expectoration, a staggering discharge from the Alps to the first shelf
of the Lombard plain! The first man, startled by the report, glances up.
Their eyes meet and there is a vague glimmer of recognition.

The First Man--"American?"

The Second Man--"Yes: St. Louis."

"Been over long?"

"A couple of months."

"What ship'd you come over in?"

"The _Kronprinz Friedrich_."

"Aha, the German line! I guess you found the grub all right."

"Oh, in the main. I have eaten better, but then again, I have eaten
worse."

"Well, they charge you enough for it, whether you get it or not. A man
could live at the Plaza cheaper."

"I should _say_ he could. What boat did _you_ come over in?"

"The _Maurentic_."

"How is she?"

"Oh, so-so."

"I hear the meals on those English ships are nothing to what they used
to be."

"That's what everybody tells me. But, as for me, I can't say I found
them so bad. I had to send back the potatoes twice and the breakfast
bacon once, but they had very good lima beans."

"Isn't that English bacon awful stuff to get down?"

"It certainly is: all meat and gristle. I wonder what an Englishman
would say if you put him next to a plate of genuine, crisp, _American_
bacon?"

"I guess he would yell for the police--or choke to death."

"Did you like the German cooking on the _Kronprinz_?"

"Well, I did and I didn't. The chicken _a la_ Maryland was very good,
but they had it only once. I could eat it every day."

"Why didn't you order it?"

"It wasn't on the bill."

"Oh, bill be damned! You might have ordered it anyhow. Make a fuss and
you'll get what you want. These foreigners have to be bossed around.
They're used to it."

"I guess you're right. There was a fellow near me who set up a holler
about his room the minute he saw it--said it was dark and musty and not
fit to pen a hog in--and they gave him one twice as large, and the chief
steward bowed and scraped to him, and the room stewards danced around
him as if he was a duke. And yet I heard later that he was nothing but a
Bismarck herring importer from Hoboken."

"Yes, that's the way to get what you want. Did you have any nobility on
board?"

"