not easy for me to follow, for--owing
probably to his reluctance--he was not "working" distinctly, but by
degrees I accustomed myself to his methods, and was able to "keep
count" along with the others. What he rapped out was this:

"'Lib Deigler, dank fuer fein gegs,[12] die geben nit gegs arm lol[13]
mehr schicken; maedel is lieb, gruss von lol" ( = Dear Dr. Ziegler,
thanks for nice biscuits: they give no biscuits to poor Lol--send more.
The girl's a dear: greetings from Lol.)'

[12] Gegs = keks; Germans call biscuits "keks."

[13] Here observe that Rolf has the impudence to complain of the
Moekels for not feeding him on sweet biscuits!

"After this I showed him some salmon wrapped up in paper, and said:

"'See! this is what I have brought for you; what is it?' To this he did
not rap out 'salmon,' as we had all expected--good as it was to the
smell, but 'erst riechen' (first let me smell it). This was a ruse on
his part, and one to which I succumbed, for no sooner did I hold it
nearer to his nose than he snatched it out of my hand! It was, however,
promptly taken from him and he was told he would have to 'deserve it'
first. In the meantime a young female dog had come into the room--she
answered to the name of Lola, and I asked Rolf if Lola might come with
me. His reply was a most decided 'No!' I put some further questions to
him, and Frau von Moers particularly asked him: 'Is Lola clever? Is
Lola to learn?' to which he made answer: 'Lola is clever, but she is
not to learn because of the professors'--and he actually made a face,
apparently he was thinking of his own experiences. I laughed, and said:

"'Lola shall have a good time with me; she shall run about in the woods
and the meadows, and play with a lot of other animals, and not have to
work too long; the professors shall be sent away when Lola is tired.'
This evidently pleased him, and he became very friendly to me, and on
my returning to my point and asking once more whether Lola might go
with me, he rapped out his answer on my hand: it was 'Yes!'

"Then I told him about an ox, who, when he didn't want to work,
pretended to be dead. Rolf now got very excited, and wanted to go on
rapping--first on my hand, and then on the leather-covered sofa on
which I was sitting. I became rather uneasy and got him to go and rap
to Fraeulein Moekel, for I could then follow the raps far better. And
what he now had to say referred to the deceitful ox--it was