ood-night. "I won't be able to sleep or anything!"

CHAPTER XVI

An Osnomian Marriage

Seaton awoke, hot and uncomfortable, but with a great surge of joy in
his heart--this was his wedding day! Springing from the bed, he released
the full stream of the "cold" water, filling the tank in a few moments.
Poising lightly upon the edge, he made a clean, sharp dive, and yelled
in surprise as he came snorting to the surface. For Dunark had made good
his promise--the water was only a few degrees above the freezing point!
After a few minutes of vigorous splashing in the icy water, he rubbed
himself down with a coarse towel, shaved, threw on his clothes, and
lifted his powerful, but musical, bass voice in the wedding chorus from
"The Rose Maiden."

_"Rise, sweet maid, arise, arise,
Rise, sweet maid, arise, arise,
'Tis the last fair morning for thy maiden eyes,"_

he sang lustily, out of his sheer joy in being alive, and was surprised
to hear Dorothy's clear soprano, Margaret's pleasing contralto, and
Crane's mellow tenor chime in from the adjoining room. Crane threw open
the door and Seaton joined the others.

"Good morning. Dick, you sound happy," said Crane.

"Who wouldn't be? Look what's doing today," as he ardently embraced his
bride-to-be. "Besides, I found some cold water this morning."

"Everyone in the palace heard you discovering it," dryly returned Crane,
and the girls laughed merrily.

"It surprised me at first," admitted Seaton, "but it's great after a
fellow once gets wet."

"We warmed ours a trifle," said Dorothy. "I like a cold bath myself, but
not in ice-water."

All four became silent, thinking of the coming event of the day, until
Crane said:

"They have ministers here, I know, and I know something of their
religion, but my knowledge is rather vague. You know more about it than
we do, Dick, suppose you tell us about it while we wait."

Seaton paused a moment, with an odd look on his face. As one turning the
pages of an unfamiliar book of reference, he was seeking the answer to
Crane's question in the vast store of Osnomian information received from
Dunark. His usually ready speech came a little slowly.

"Well, as nearly as I can explain it, it's a funny kind of a
mixture--partly theology, partly Darwinism, or at least, making a fetish
of evolution, and partly pure economic determinism. They believe in a
Supreme Being, whom they call the First Cause--that is the nearest
Engli