The Further Adventures of O'Neill in Holland

irritably. "What an inveterate

d nothing to do; and I gave him a splendid time sight-seeing in

terdam, where I went one day

e. She never quite took to the Berlitz method, as I had improved it; and she

I gave her a rest. Took a day off, in fact;

RYL

rbour. But as soon as we pushed off from the wharf and went skimming over the sun-lit Maas, the brilliant and animated scene

ghts. That was the only Dutch study I got that day; for some one began to speak to me in English-an Amsterdammer, as it appeared, who told me

of the harbour we were in; b

with clammy moisture. We were hardly moving, presently; and our captain kept the steam whistle hard at work. The sight-seers were grievou

, IK FLUIT

tugs and immense black hulls swept by us at arm's length, pi

a siren-I think that's what you call the thing-gave such a sudden blood-curdling yell at our very elbow, it seemed

f them-infuriated, inquisitive or resigned-soprano, alto, tenor;-all whi

it was the best illustration

one set of voices. "Ik krijsch, ik f

AND THE S

ier songsters out of the field: "Ik rammel, ik

squeaked the little tu

er their grammars very rapidly, to get a really melancholy selection, for in another moment thei

turned into a gigantic sea-serpent, and had bitten off its own tongue. So human, too, was its tortured wail, that I instinctively thought of Polyphemus having his

e of his prize yells. Then he seemed to sett

OT

o me that in his city the fog

ammer who had overheard it, and who spoke of

it; but through a cloud of statistics and history I observ

e lost our way at first, and wandered about within earshot of the siren-brood, whooping and calling and taunting one another on the river;

river I wasn't in much humour for Dutch, but

some people about, but not many-n

AND MY

in dim flannel, she gazed, without moving, on a table in front of her, spread with dried eels and other occult delicacies. As I approached, to enqui

ovem

scure eatable, slowly grasped it, dipped it in a sort

or she munched, calml

t priestess performing mysterious rites. Clotho would

ed me. Two of them, indeed, stood at my side,

the scrutiny, but put forth he

IS

shiver to look at the stone-pillars, oozy and moist, with condensed sea-fog trickling down. The glaring street-lamps hardly lit up the sce

dream-except for

e oude mejuffro

en," was the

ze te eten d

ze tre

hat reply was of the nature of wit; and they

ouldn't

RATIC D

was familiar. That meant 'to pull,' 'draw,' or 'wander'. "Trekschuit"-"trekpot"-"trekvogel"; I had them all labelled on my desk

I tried it, only raised new difficult

a town where Jan Olieslagers' fame was universal:

iating, when you have your 2000 new nouns at your fingers' ends, and hun

impatient; so-to withdraw grac

. "Ja, wat is het?" he soliloquised, evidently pu

smaller boy; "i

sides. "Nee; in een lekker

a brawny fellow with a brick

SY T

sion in the bud by demanding, as

the first fellow, the wi

te-comer. "Kan je begrijpen! Maar

followed; and the controversy became general, as the protagonists in this ps

one, and Clot

in one of the weird cups

trek?" Would I j

ing!" I said, as I quicken

to "define appetite"-a thing even Aristotle could hardly do. Naturally the populace broke

CH

me-made Berlitz. It might be splendid for travelling; b

e landlady's son. He was beaming. Lately he had been w

eeffening! Ai hef an little chat." "I

English; but I like to encourage merit, so I assu

ut won't you come up stairs? We

here an naiz

s have a talk with some one

but ai hef

d puzzled, too, and always stuck to t

t!-dat is een praa

CES OF

heus: het is waa

p the stairs now.

ving into some recess.

under his coat. This he produced with the

ndering about in the fog and mewing piteously. "Vil

nswered. "Kitten,-that's what we call it-not cha

nutes he had a saucer of milk under the foundling's nose, and was watchi

thout any philosophic argu

is ap