ctacle; but it was merely depressing to him; it
destroyed what pleasure he might otherwise have taken in the place. This
man was but a step beneath those dull toilers he had seen on the cars.
They had not yet given up the struggle against the inevitable, or were
too stolid to rebel; while he--

Ben sprang to his feet and began retracing his steps. People bred in the
city might be callous to the miseries of their fellows; those provided
with plenty might be content to live their lives side by side with such
hopeless poverty, might even apply to their own profit the necessities
of others; but his was the hospitality and consideration of the
frontier, the democracy that shares its last loaf with its fellow no
matter who he may be, and shares it without question. The heartless
selfishness of the conditions he was observing almost made his blood
boil. He felt that he was amid an alien people: their standards were not
as his standards, their lives were not of his life, and he wanted to
hurry through with his affairs and get away. He returned to the hotel.

Breakfast was ready by this time, and after some exploration he
succeeded in finding the dining-room. The head-waiter showed him to a
seat and held his chair obsequiously. Another, a negro of uncertain
age, fairly exuding dignity and impassive as a sphinx, poured water over
the ice in his glass with a practised hand, produced the menu, and
waited for his order. Without intending it, the countryman had selected
a rather fashionable place, and the bill of fare was unintelligible as
Sanskrit to him. He looked at it helplessly. A man across the table,
observing his predicament, smiled involuntarily. Ben caught the
expression, looked at its bearer meaningly, looked until it vanished,
and until a faint red, obviously a stranger to that face, took its
place. By a sudden inspiration Blair's hand went to his pocket and
returned with a silver coin.

"Bring me what a healthy man usually eats at this time of day, and
plenty of it," he said. He glanced absently, blandly past his companion.

The gentleman of color looked at the speaker as though he were a strange
animal in a "zoo."

"Yes, sah," he said.

While he was waiting, Ben looked around him with interest. The room was
big, high, massive of pillars and of beams. Every detail had been
carefully arranged. The heavy oak tables, the spotless linen, the
sparkling silver and glassware appealed to the sense of luxury. The
coolness