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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Herbert Corey 

 A RAG-PICKER AND HIS CHARIOT PAYING THE "l,A DEFENSA" FLAG OP THE RAG- 

 PICKERS' UNION : MADRID, SPAIN 



his arm, and the priest, who later rode 

 down from Andorra with me, indicated 

 that the knife is still a ready solvent of 

 difficulties. 



Perhaps I misunderstood him, as we 

 talked by signs and scattered words, 

 lacking any common language; but he 

 shook his head sadly over the backward- 

 ness of his flock and pantomimed a dis- 

 pute in the hills in most illuminating 

 fashion. First the injured party shook 

 a petulant forefinger at his antagonist; 

 then there was an outburst of violent 

 speech ; finally the priest's hand flew to 

 the belt of his black cassock, withdrew 

 an imaginery knife, and thrust it so 

 swiftly at my own girdle and with such 

 a venomous air that I shrank coldly. He 

 was a good priest, though. For slow 

 miles he struggled with a statement until 

 I finally made it out: 



"AMERICA WIEIy BE THE FRIEND OP ALI< 

 THE WORLD" 



"It is good," said he, "that America 

 has entered the war. For all the other 



nations would seek to be masters if they 

 won ; but America will be the friend of 

 all the world." 



At Seo d'Urgel a temptation was re- 

 sisted. The guide-books pay little at- 

 tention to Seo — the country folk call it 

 "Saao" — because it is off the beaten path. 

 I had no time to explore it thoroughly. 

 But certainly the "float," as a prospector 

 would say, offered rich finds to the in- 

 terested digger. There is a street of 

 heavy, arched arcades, under loopholed 

 walls, through which little streets pierce 

 at intervals, which takes one back at a 

 glance to the Middle Ages. 



They are for the most part two men 

 wide, these little streets. Some of them 

 are roofed over, and dim lamps twinkle 

 in their twisty lengths. They tell of the 

 days called good, when men were killed 

 fervently in them with axe and sword, 

 instead of being scientifically entered 

 upon the casualty list by cold-blooded 

 mathematicians hidden miles away be- 

 hind hills, and who would be helpless 

 without their books of logarithms. 



