vild peest, dot mus' be hoonted, und dey
hoonted me; put I got avay. I vas in St. Beetersburg, vonce, vile dey
hoont somevere else. Den I vas in Constantinople, mit de Turks--"

Jack's brain was in a whirl. He had read about all of those cities,
and here was a man who had really been in them. It was even more
wonderful than talking with the Governor or looking at the Hudson.

But in a moment his new friend's face assumed a quieter expression.

"Come along," he said. "De ladies ees ready by dees time. Ve goes.
Den I dells you some dings you nefer hear."

He seemed to know all about the Columbia, for he led Jack straight to
the stateroom door, through all the crowds of passengers.

"I might not have found it in less than an hour," said Jack to himself.
"They're waiting for us. I can't talk with them much."

But he found out that Mrs. Guilderaufenberg spoke English with but
little accent, Miss Hildebrand only knocked over a letter here and
there, and the Polish lady's fluent English astonished him so much that
he complimented her upon it.

"Dot ees so," remarked Mr. Guilderaufenberg. "She talks dem all so
vell dey say she vas born dere. Dell you vat, my poy, ven you talks
Bolish or Russian, den you vas exercise your tongue so you shpeaks all
de oder lankwitches easy."

The ladies were in good humor, and disposed to laugh at anything,
especially after they reached the supper-room; and Mrs.
Guilderaufenberg at once took a strong interest in Jack because he had
never been anywhere.

For convenience, perhaps, the ladies frequently spoke to one another in
German, but Jack, without understanding a word of it, listened
earnestly to what they were saying.

They often, however, talked in English, and to him, and he learned that
they had been making a summer-vacation trip through Canada, and were
now on their way home. It was evident that Mr. Guilderaufenberg was a
man who did not lack money, and that none of the others were poor.
Besides hearing them, Jack was busy in looking around the long,
glittering supper-room of the Columbia, noticing how many different
kinds of people there were in it. They seemed to be of all nations,
ages, colors, and kinds, and Jack would not have missed the sight for
anything.

"I'm beginning to see the world," he said to himself, and then he had
to reply to Mrs. Guilderaufenberg for about the twentieth time:

"Oh, not at all. You're welcome to the stateroom. I'd rather sit up