"So this is the famous Budapest, is it, the twin cities of the blue Danube we've been hearing so much about?" "Huh doesn't strike me as so very much of a wonderful place. When you come to think of it, little old New York and Brooklyn can beat it all hollow so far as bustle and business go; even Chicago would run it a hot race." "Now that's just like you, George Rollins, always ready to find fault, and throw cold water on everything. No wonder they've called you 'Doubting George' this long time back. There's always a flaw somewhere, you believe, and so you look for it right along." "Between you and me, Buster, I don't think he ever will be cured of that nasty habit. Why can't he see the bright side of things once in a while, and be an optimist, like our chum and commodore, Jack Stormways?" "Oh, you ought to know by this time, Josh, a leopard can't change its spots. I reckon our friend George here has spasms of reform once in just so often; but his weakness is ground in, and his resolves collapse, so he goes back to his old ways again." "You don't say, Buster? Kindly take pity on my ignorance and tell me what there is so wonderful about this old Hungarian capital perched on the banks of the Danube and joined by bridges? I'm willing to have the scales taken from my eyes." "Oh, well, first there's the river itself, not dirty water like most of our streams over in the States, but clear, and almost the color of the blue sky overhead." "Sounds fine, Buster. Good for you; go ahead and open his blind eyes some more. It was always George's way to have his nose down over the engine of his Wireless motorboat, and never see a blessed thing around him. Hit him again for his mother, Buster."