that Tantalus suffers
in many guises this side of the infernal regions. The adjutant made the
prayer, but I did not take note of it, being too engrossed with the
massed picture of misery before me. But the speech ran something like
this: "You will feast in Paradise. No matter how you starve and suffer
here, you will feast in Paradise, that is, if you will follow the
directions." And so forth and so forth. A clever bit of propaganda, I
took it, but rendered of no avail for two reasons. First, the men who
received it were unimaginative and materialistic, unaware of the
existence of any Unseen, and too inured to hell on earth to be frightened
by hell to come. And second, weary and exhausted from the night's
sleeplessness and hardship, suffering from the long wait upon their feet,
and faint from hunger, they were yearning, not for salvation, but for
grub. The "soul-snatchers" (as these men call all religious
propagandists), should study the physiological basis of psychology a
little, if they wish to make their efforts more effective.

All in good time, about eleven o'clock, breakfast arrived. It arrived,
not on plates, but in paper parcels. I did not have all I wanted, and I
am sure that no man there had all he wanted, or half of what he wanted or
needed. I gave part of my bread to the tramp royal who was waiting for
Buffalo Bill, and he was as ravenous at the end as he was in the
beginning. This is the breakfast: two slices of bread, one small piece
of bread with raisins in it and called "cake," a wafer of cheese, and a
mug of "water bewitched." Numbers of the men had been waiting since five
o'clock for it, while all of us had waited at least four hours; and in
addition, we had been herded like swine, packed like sardines, and
treated like curs, and been preached at, and sung to, and prayed for. Nor
was that all.

No sooner was breakfast over (and it was over almost as quickly as it
takes to tell), than the tired heads began to nod and droop, and in five
minutes half of us were sound asleep. There were no signs of our being
dismissed, while there were unmistakable signs of preparation for a
meeting. I looked at a small clock hanging on the wall. It indicated
twenty-five minutes to twelve. Heigh-ho, thought I, time is flying, and
I have yet to look for work.

"I want to go," I said to a couple of waking men near me.

"Got ter sty fer the service," was the answer.

"Do you want to stay?" I asked.

Th