aroused to the very utmost by the extraordinary
position in which I found myself.
    But already my excitement had begun to cool; and I reflected that these
people might not be the ten tribes after all; in which case I could not but
regret that my hopes of making money, which had led me into so much trouble and
danger, were almost annihilated by the fact that the country was full to
overflowing, with a people who had probably already developed its more available
resources. Moreover, how was I to get back? For there was something about my
hosts which told me that they had got me, and meant to keep me, in spite of all
their goodness.
 

                                 Chapter Seven

                               First Impressions

We followed an Alpine path for some four miles, now hundreds of feet above a
brawling stream which descended from the glaciers, and now nearly alongside it.
The morning was cold and somewhat foggy, for the autumn had made great strides
latterly. Sometimes we went through forests of pine, or rather yew trees, though
they looked like pine; and I remember that now and again we passed a little
wayside shrine, wherein there would be a statue of great beauty, representing
some figure, male or female, in the very heyday of youth, strength, and beauty,
or of the most dignified maturity and old age. My hosts always bowed their heads
as they passed one of these shrines, and it shocked me to see statues that had
no apparent object, beyond the chronicling of some unusual individual excellence
or beauty, receive so serious a homage. However, I showed no sign of wonder or
disapproval; for I remembered that to be all things to all men was one of the
injunctions of the Gentile Apostle, which for the present I should do well to
heed. Shortly after passing one of these chapels we came suddenly upon a village
which started up out of the mist; and I was alarmed lest I should be made an
object of curiosity or dislike. But it was not so. My guides spoke to many in
passing, and those spoken to showed much amazement. My guides, however, were
well known, and the natural politeness of the people prevented them from putting
me to any inconvenience; but they could not help eyeing me, nor I them. I may as
well say at once what my after-experience taught me - namely, that with all
their faults and extraordinary obliquity of mental vision upon many subjects,
they are the very best-bred people that I ever fell in with.
    The village was just like the one we had left, only rather larger. The