llen heads. Those fellows are literally
wallowing and seething in beer, and they feel as comfortable as ten
thousand cannibals. It is really a joy to be among men who are
natural."

The millionaires, having with no little difficulty succeeded in finding
seats, were accosted by a female waiter.

"Do the gentlemen wish to have election beer?"

"No," replied Gerlach.

His abrupt tone in declining excited the surprise of the fellows who
sat next to them. Several of them stared at the landholder.

"So you don't want any election beer?" cried a fellow who was pretty
well fired.

"Why not? May be it isn't good enough for you?"

"Oh, yes! oh, yes!" replied the banker hastily. "You see, Mr. Shund"--

"That's good! You call me Shund," interrupted the fellow with a coarse
laugh. "My name isn't Shund--my name is Koenig--yes, Koenig--with all
due respect to you."

"Well, Mr. Koenig--you see, Mr. Koenig, we decline drinking election
beer because we are not entitled to it--we do not belong to this
place."

"Ah, yes--well, that's honest!" lauded Koenig. "Being that you are a
couple of honest fellows, you must partake of some of the good things
of our feast. I say, Kate," cried he to the female waiter, "bring these
gentlemen some of the election sausages."

Greifmann, perceiving that Seraphin was about putting in a protest,
nudged him.

"What feast are you celebrating to-day?" inquired the banker.

"That I will explain to you. We are to have an election here to-morrow;
these men on the ticket, you see, are to be elected." And he drew forth
one of Spitzkopf's tickets. "Every one of us has received a ticket like
this, and we are all going to vote according to the ticket--of course,
you know, we don't do it for nothing. To-day and to-morrow, what we eat
and drink is free of charge. And if Satan's own grandmother were on the
ticket, I would vote for her."

"The first one on the list is Mr. Hans Shund. What sort of a man is
he?" asked Seraphin. "No doubt he is the most honorable and most
respectable man in the place!"

"Ha! ha! that's funny! The most honorable man in the place! Really you
make me laugh. Never mind, however, I don't mean to be impolite. You
are a stranger hereabout, and cannot, of course, be expected to know
anything of it. Shund, you see, was formerly--that, is a couple of days
ago--Shund was a man of whom nobody knew any good. For my part, I
wouldn't just like to be sticking in Shund's hide. Well, that's