For
instance, when you and I went from Cadiz to Ronda by diligence."
"Oh, you mean the Rollo books--Rollo's Tour in Europe?" laughed Mr.
Lawrence. "How I did pore over those when I was a little boy! Yes,
they do go into details, that's a fact. Somebody's advice to Rollo
always to follow the crowd when bewildered at some great railway
terminus often occurs to me, still, and is acted upon with perfect
success."
"But don't you think travelers who write for publication sometimes draw
the long bow a bit?" asked Lieutenant Carnegie in his diffident way.
"Oh, never!" cried a voice from the guardrail, and the Traveler held up
a beseeching hand as he came forward. "Don't take away our reputation
for veracity, I pray you! With the public's confidence lost to us what
could we do? We are all truthful--even to Du Chaillu and Gulliver."
Every one laughed, and the young man, blushing a little, returned,
"Well, I was thinking especially of one or two I've read, lately. For
instance, thirty miles a day is quite a tramp for an ordinary man on
good level roads, without luggage; and when a traveler tells me he
makes sixty over hills, or marshes, weighted down with camp supplies,
who wasn't brought up a soldier, either, why, I just begin to compare
it with my own experiences and say--"
"Here _lies_ a great man, don't you?" put in Dwight.
"Well, yes, that's about it."
"Oh, but you must remember that often he can only judge of the distance
made by his feelings," laughed the Traveler.
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