worshiping at their shrines, but----"

"They're rather bare shrines at Leiden," I consoled him. "You've seen
much better specimens of their work elsewhere. You'd be disappointed."

"Just as well to think so. I'll give your message; but as there are
three ladies and one dog, you'd better expect us when you see us."

In spite of this fact I had little time to spare, though it appeared
that _en route_ to the boat a delay was caused by Tibe jumping into a
cab with two elderly ladies from Boston, who, so far from reciprocating
his overtures, nearly swooned with terror, and had to be soothed and
sustained by the entire party.

The canal that leads from Leiden to Katwyk-aan-Zee passes the houses of
Descartes and Spinoza; and altogether the short journey by water did not
lack interest, for Katwyk has become a colony of artists. Once there, we
walked to the sluice where the Rhine seeks its grave in the North Sea;
and as it happened that the tide was high, with a strong shore wind, I
could show the Cyclopean defenses of our coast at their best. With the
secret pleasure which I believe all men take in pointing out things to
women, I explained the great series of gates through which the river
passes to its death. All were closed against the raging waves, which
leaped and bellowed, demanding entrance, rearing their fierce heads
twelve feet or more above the level where the Rhine lay dying. When the
tide should turn, and the wild water retreat, the sluice-gates would be
opened, and the river would pour sea-ward, sweeping away the masses of
sand piled up in fury by the cheated waves.

We lunched on board the "Lorelei," I munching abjectly on deck, on duty
at the wheel, while from the cabin below came to my ears the tinkling of
girls' laughter, and the merry popping of corks. In theory I was better
off than Tantalus, for Tantalus had no beer or sandwiches; but, on the
other hand Tantalus was not in love with a girl whose voice he could
hear mingling with his rival's; so practically there was not much to
choose.

Luckily I had not to bear the strain for long. I did my best yesterday,
in talking of Haarlem, to awaken interest in the huge Haarlemmer-meer
Polder, and its importance in the modern scheme of the Netherlands. Now
my eloquence was rewarded, for they hurried through their luncheon, not
that they might cheer the skipper's loneliness, but that they might miss
no feature in the landscape.

We were skirting one side of the