o keep the line _taught_, nor
to follow each other on the same side of the road, it may be conceived
that to pass them is sometimes a work of difficulty. It is a comfort
that they never bite--at least never in ordinary cases; but still, till
one is used to their near contact, it does seem formidable to be
involved and hampered among these as one constantly must be. But this
particular road of ours was, for some way, diversified by neither beauty
nor incident; and, as things go, perhaps it is well that so it was; for
therefore have I the less scruple at passing over observations
topographical, and making haste to tell of what things befel us in the
city of the unbelievers. One single party of travellers we did meet,
whose journeying exercised considerable influence on our fortunes. It
was about mid-day that we saw approaching, from the opposite direction
to ourselves, a Frank gentleman, attended by a respectable looking
squire. We knew him to be coming from Magnesia, because there was no
other place from which he could be coming; and, by the same token, we
shrewdly guessed him to be the one Frank inhabitant, the pro-consul, on
whose good offices we had reckoned. The only alternative was, that he
might be some casual visiter like ourselves, whom business or curiosity
had led on a journey, whence he was returning. But, as he drew nearer,
we read in the incurious expression of his face, that he was certainly
at home; and the air of accustomed importance that beset him argued him
to be one in authority. No men, surely, can be so alive to the sense of
borrowed dignity as consular agents in out-of-the-way corners; at least
no men carry so pompous an exposition on their brow. By these tokens we
identified our stranger friend.

"Hail him," said K----.

"Bon giorno, signori!"

"Servo, signori. Andate in Magnesia?"

"I told you so," said K----.

And so it was. He, her Britannic Majesty's, and half-a-dozen other
majesty's agent, stood convicted by his speech. The man had not been out
of Magnesia, perhaps, any day for the last twelvemonths, and he had
chosen, for the prosecution of his foreign interests, that precise day,
when these three desolate Englishmen had come to throw themselves on his
cares.

However, our blood was up, and our souls superior to trifles.

"Here's a poser! shall we reveal?"

"Not a bit of it. We don't want him, nor any one else. Any mixture of
aid would have marred the spirit of our expedition: besi