nversational spirals,
it proved to be that he had decided that the carriage needed three
horses, which he had known all along; and, chiefly, that he had desired
to sleep upon a little scheme for exploiting the strangers. How long he
had intended to pursue his slumberous meditations it is impossible to
say.

He dragged me through all the mazes of that bargain once more.
Evidently, bargaining was of even stricter etiquette than my extensive
previous acquaintance had led me to suspect; and I had committed the
capital mistake of not complying with this ancestral custom in the
beginning. I agreed to three horses, and stipulated, on my side, that
fresh straw should replace the chickens' nest, and that we should set
out at once,--not _saytchas_ but sooner, "this very minute."

I turned to go. A fresh difficulty arose. He would not go unless I would
pay for three relays. He brought out the government regulations and
amendments,--all that had been issued during the century, I should
think. He stood over me while I read them, and convinced myself that his
"_Yay Bogu_" (God is my witness) was accurately placed. The price of
relays was, in reality, fixed by law; but though over-affirmation had
now aroused my suspicions, in my ignorance of the situation I could not
espy the loophole of trickery in which I was to be noosed, and I agreed
once more. More quibbling. He would not stir unless he were allowed to
drive the same horses the whole distance, though paid for three relays,
because all the horses would be away harvesting, and so forth and so on.
Goaded to assert myself in some manner, to put an end to these
interminable hagglings, I asserted what I did not know.

"Prince X. never pays for these relays," I declared boldly.

"Oh, no, he does n't," replied the man, with cheerful frankness. "But
you must, or I'll not go."

That settled it; I capitulated once more.

We had omitted to telegraph to our friends, partly in order to save them
the trouble of sending a carriage, partly because we were thirsting for
"experiences." It began to look as though our thirst was to be quenched
in some degree, since we were in this man's power as to a vehicle, and
it might be true that we should not be able to obtain any other in the
town, or any horses in the villages, if indeed there were any villages.
Fortified by another volley of "_Yay Bogu_" of triumphant fervor, we
survived a second wait. At last, near nine o'clock, we were able to pack