had walked a half mile further
and Fritz had to hold Pixy by the collar to keep him from running in and
taking a bath before they had satisfied their thirst. The water was
delightfully cool and fresh, and the moment Fritz let go the cord Pixy
plunged in, and enjoyed the bath so much that the boys were tempted to
follow his example. But they had heard that it was not good for the
health to bathe so soon after a hearty meal, so sat in the shade while
Pixy slept in the sun until his long, silky, black hair was nearly dry.
Then they arose and walked on until about the middle of the day they
reached a village which had an old church with a tall tower, and a
number of small dwellings, two of them being public houses, or inns.

"To which of the two will we go to take our dinners?" asked Franz.

"To the one that has the gilt lion on the sign-board. I believe they are
richer people and will give us a better dinner," replied Paul.

"But it will cost us more," objected Fritz, "and you know that we have
just so much money, which must last until we get back to the Odenwald.
Let us go to the one that looks the cheapest."

This was agreed to, and the three went in, and were received by the
landlady.

"Do you wish your dinners?" she asked, seeing that none of them seemed
inclined to give an order.

No one of them had ever been in a public house, so each waited for the
other to speak.

"Yes, we wish dinner," said Fritz at length. "Have you lettuce?"

"Yes; what will you have with it?"

"Potatoes."

"But they take so long to boil, so think of something else."

"We will have meat."

"I have no meat to-day."

"Then we will take sausage."

"I have no sausage to-day."

"Then what have you?"

"Noodle soup, and a cherry pudding."

"Good!" exclaimed the boys in a breath, "we all like pudding."

"Very well, take seats at this table and I will bring in the dinner."

The boys were not slow in obeying; there was no tablecloth but the pine
table was scoured to almost perfect whiteness, and the dishes, few and
poor though they were, glistened.

A large dish of lettuce was set before them, then a bowl of soup at each
plate, and some thick slices of brown bread.

"What drink will you have?" she asked.

"We prefer milk."

"There is no milk. It all went into the pudding, but you can have plenty
of cold coffee."

"No, we will take water, please."

This was brought, and when the soup was finished, the pudding was
brought,