destiny. If he's the right sort, he will read gayly along; he drums, he
slaps himself, he beats his breast, he scratches his head. Suddenly
there will come the shock. He is reading rapidly and gloriously.
He finds his knife in his pocket, as usual, and puts it back; the
top-string is there; he drums the devil's tattoo, he wets his finger
and smears the margin of the page as he whirls it over and then--he
finds--"The--Print--of--a--Man's--Naked--Foot--on--the--Shore!!!"

Oh, Crackey! At this tremendous moment the novel reader who has genius
drums no more. His hands have seized the upper edges of the muslin lids,
he presses the lower edges against his stomach, his back takes an
added intensity of hump, his eyes bulge, his heart thumps--he is
landed--landed!

Terror, surprise, sympathy, hope, skepticism, doubt--come all ye
trooping emotions to threaten or console; but an end has come to fairy
stories and wonder tales--Master Studious is in the awful presence of
Human Nature.

* * * * *

For many years I have believed that that Print--of--a--Man's--Naked--
Foot was set in italic type in all editions of "Robinson Crusoe." But a
patient search of many editions has convinced me that I must have been
mistaken.

The passage comes sneaking along in the midst of a paragraph in common
Roman letters and by the living jingo! you discover it just as Mr.
Crusoe discovered the footprint itself!