Before he got out it cost him fifty cents to learn his name, a quarter for his fortune, ten cents for his horoscope, and sundry amounts for gems, jewels, and souvenirs of the Orient.
Through his best hexameter spectacles he surveyed the dark-eyed daughter of the Nile who was telling his fortune with a strong Irish accent; all went smoothly until the prophetess happened to see the Professor's sunburnt nose, fiery red from the four days' run in wind and rain, and said warningly,-- "You are too fond of good eating and drinking; you drink too much, and unless you are more temperate you will die in twenty years." That was too much for the Professor, whose occasional glass of beer--a habit left over from his student days--would not discolor the nose of a humming-bird.
There were no end of illusions, mysteries, and deceptions.

The greatest mystery of all was the eager desire of the people to be deceived, and their bitter and outspoken disappointment when they were not.

As the Professor remarked,-- "There never has been but one real American, and that was Phineas T.Barnum.He was the genuine product of his country and his times,--native ore without foreign dross.

He knew the American people as no man before or since has known them; he knew what the American people wanted, and gave it to them in large unadulterated doses,--humbug." Tuesday morning was spent in giving the machine a thorough inspection, some lost motion in the eccentric was taken up, every nut and screw tightened, and the cylinder and intake mechanism washed out with gasoline.
It is a good plan to clean out the cylinder with gasoline once each week or ten days; it is not necessary, but the piston moves with much greater freedom and the compression is better.
However good the cylinder oil used, after six or eight days' hard and continuous running there is more or less residuum; in the very nature of things there must be from the consumption of about a pint of oil to every hundred miles.
Many use kerosene to clean cylinders, but gasoline has its advantages; kerosene is excellent for all other bearings, especially where there may be rust, as on the chain; but kerosene is in itself a low grade oil, and the object in cleaning the cylinder is to cut out all the oil and leave it bright and dry ready for a supply of fresh oil.
After putting in the gasoline, the cylinder and every bearing which the gasoline has touched should be thoroughly lubricated before starting.
Lubrication is of vital importance, and the oil used makes all the difference in the world.
Many makers of machines have adopted the bad practice of putting up oil in cans under their own brands, and charging, of course, two prices per gallon.

The price is of comparatively little consequence, though an item; for it does not matter so much whether one pays fifty cents or a dollar a gallon, so long as the best oil is obtained; the pernicious feature of the practice lies in wrapping the oil in mystery, like a patent medicine,--"Smith's Cylinder Oil" and "Jones's Patent Pain-Killer" being in one and the same category.