e, compared with other nations, but they
seemed alert and well trained, and the boy decided it would require a
brave enemy to face them on a field of battle.

Having at length satisfied his curiosity as to Japanese life and
customs Rob prepared for his long flight across the Pacific Ocean.

By consulting his map he discovered that should he maintain his course
due east, as before, he would arrive at a point in America very near to
San Francisco, which suited his plans excellently.

Having found that he moved more swiftly when farthest from the earth's
surface, because the air was more rarefied and offered less resistance,
Rob mounted upwards until the islands of Japan were mere specks visible
through the clear, sunny atmosphere.

Then he began his eastward flight, the broad surface of the Pacific
seeming like a blue cloud far beneath him.

16. Shipwrecked Mariners

Ample proof of Rob's careless and restless nature having been frankly
placed before the reader in these pages, you will doubtless be
surprised when I relate that during the next few hours our young
gentleman suffered from a severe attack of homesickness, becoming as
gloomy and unhappy in its duration as ever a homesick boy could be.

It may have been because he was just then cut off from all his
fellow-creatures and even from the world itself; it may have been
because he was satiated with marvels and with the almost absolute
control over the powers which the Demon had conferred upon him; or it
may have been because he was born and reared a hearty, healthy American
boy, with a disposition to battle openly with the world and take his
chances equally with his fellows, rather than be placed in such an
exclusive position that no one could hope successfully to oppose him.

Perhaps he himself did not know what gave him this horrible attack of
"the blues," but the truth is he took out his handkerchief and cried
like a baby from very loneliness and misery.

There was no one to see him, thank goodness! and the tears gave him
considerable relief. He dried his eyes, made an honest struggle to
regain his cheerfulness, and then muttered to himself:

"If I stay up here, like an air-bubble in the sky, I shall certainly go
crazy. I suppose there's nothing but water to look at down below, but
if I could only sight a ship, or even see a fish jump, it would do me
no end of good."

Thereupon he descended until, as the ocean's surface same nearer and
nearer