The master of the house was an Anglo-Saxon--a Gorgio--and his wife, by some magic or other, the oracle before-mentioned.
And I, answering said-- "So you all call it _patteran_ ?" {24} "No; very few of us know that name.

We do it without calling it anything." Then I took my stick and marked on the floor the following sign-- [Sign: ill24.jpg] "There," I said, "is the oldest patteran--first of all--which the Gipsies use to-day in foreign lands.

In Germany, when one band of Gipsies goes by a cross road, they draw that deep in the dust, with the end of the longest line pointing in the direction in which they have gone.

Then, the next who come by see the mark, and, if they choose, follow it." "We make it differently," said the Gipsy.

"This is our sign--the _trin bongo drums_, or cross." And he drew his patteran thus-- [Cross: ill25.jpg] "The long end points the way," he added; "just as in your sign." "You call a cross," I remarked, "_trin bongo drums_, or the three crooked roads.