India 2001 books

Outside we met
a young man who spoke German, and as he wanted to show off, he stopped
to converse. We were joined by an older man who claimed to be his
father. The father was really a jolly old boy. He said his son was a
puny weakling, but as for himself he never had had a doctor in his life.
So Jan tried his mettle with a cigar. An officer, a filthy old peasant
in the remains of a battered uniform, joined the group, but he was not
charming; however, Jan offered him a cigarette. The old yokel rushed on
his fate. He said--
"Cigarettes are all very well; but I would rather have one of those you
gave to the other fellow."
The road wound on and up in the usual way, rain came down at intervals,
and it grew colder and colder. At last we extracted all our spare
clothes from the knapsack and put them on. We reached the top of the
pass and began to rattle down the descent on the further side, and we
kept our spirits up, in the growing gloom, by singing choruses: "The old
Swanee river" and "Uncle Ned.


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