yet we would do our best, and in time could learn to become navigators. No," she went on, "it would not be my desire for everything to go smoothly, for in that case trips might prove monotonous; and if the worst should come, what would it mean? Why, nothing more than the parting from that strange thing we call life, a process which all our ancestors have experienced, and which we shall eventually have to undergo in any case, and which I trust we fear as little as they."
"What about the land expedition? I interjected. "Perhaps he would be willing for young ladies to accompany it."
"He should be, at least," she answered; "and I will see him about the matter."
Saying this, she made her exit.
On going out into the grounds, I saw Yeyema and Vandalia coming to the palace, and went to meet them. Yeyema informed me they were aware of the intended expedition in Tehana, and had come to Atazatlan in the hope of inducing the President to join him in forming a monster one to the volcanic regions, whose surface had recently undergone a change, but where all was now quiescent. A visitor who had just arrived from those parts had told him that the scenery was indescribably beau-
