jumped into the next train that came up and proceeded
thither. When George, tired of waiting, returned to the station, he
found us gone and he found his luggage gone. Harris had his ticket; I
was acting as banker to the party, so that he had in his pocket only some
small change. Excusing himself upon these grounds, he thereupon
commenced deliberately a career of crime that, reading it later, as set
forth baldly in the official summons, made the hair of Harris and myself
almost to stand on end.

German travelling, it may be explained, is somewhat complicated. You buy
a ticket at the station you start from for the place you want to go to.
You might think this would enable you to get there, but it does not. When
your train comes up, you attempt to swarm into it; but the guard
magnificently waves you away. Where are your credentials? You show him
your ticket. He explains to you that by itself that is of no service
whatever; you have only taken the first step towards travelling; you must
go back to the booking-office and get in addition what is called a
"schnellzug ticket." With this you return, thinking your troubles over.
You are allowed to get in, so far so good. But you must not sit down
anywhere, and you must not stand still, and you must not wander about.
You must take another ticket, this time what is called a "platz ticket,"
which entitles you to a place for a certain distance.

What a man could do who persisted in taking nothing but the one ticket, I
have often wondered. Would he be entitled to run behind the train on the
six-foot way? Or could he stick a label on himself and get into the
goods van? Again, what could be done with the man who, having taken his
schnellzug ticket, obstinately refused, or had not the money to take a
platz ticket: would they let him lie in the umbrella rack, or allow him
to hang himself out of the window?

To return to George, he had just sufficient money to take a third-class
slow train ticket to Baden, and that was all. To avoid the
inquisitiveness of the guard, he waited till the train was moving, and
then jumped in.

That was his first sin:

(a) Entering a train in motion;

(b) After being warned not to do so by an official.

Second sin:

(a) Travelling in train of superior class to that for which ticket was
held.

(b) Refusing to pay difference when demanded by an official. (George
says he did not "refuse"; he simply told the man he had not got it.)