Not even
another gallon!"
"But you both sit there with both your mugs open," replies the girl
in an injured tone.
"What do you mean, 'we sit with our mugs open'?" asks B. "Can't we
have our mugs open if we like?"
"Ah, yes," she explains pathetically; "but then I think you want
more beer. Gentlemen always open their mugs when they want them
filled with beer."
We kept our mugs shut after that.
MONDAY, JUNE 9TH
A Long Chapter, but happily the Last. - The Pilgrims' Return. - A
Deserted Town. - Heidelberg. - The Common, or Bed, Sheet, Considered
as a Towel. - B. Grapples with a Continental Time Table. - An
Untractable Train. - A Quick Run. - Trains that Start from Nowhere. -
Trains that Arrive at Nowhere. - Trains that Don't Do Anything. - B.
Goes Mad. - Railway Travelling in Germany. - B. is Taken Prisoner. -
His Fortitude. - Advantages of Ignorance. - First Impressions of
Germany and of the Germans.
We are at Ostend. Our pilgrimage has ended. We sail for Dover in
three hours' time. The wind seems rather fresh, but they say that
it will drop towards the evening. I hope they are not deceiving us.
We are disappointed with Ostend. We thought that Ostend would be
gay and crowded. We thought that there would be bands and theatres
and concerts, and busy table-d'hotes, and lively sands, and thronged
parades, and pretty girls at Ostend.
