to the town and
taken a bed at a hotel, but he had left home without a single penny.
Fortunately the nights were warm at this season, so he determined to
travel all night, that he might reach by morning some place he had
never before visited.

Cuba had always interested him, and he judged it ought to lie in a
southeasterly direction from Boston. So he set the indicator to that
point and began gliding swiftly toward the southeast.

He now remembered that it was twenty-four hours since he had eaten the
first electrical tablet. As he rode through the air he consumed
another. All hunger at once left him, while he felt the same
invigorating sensations as before.

After a time the moon came out, and Rob amused himself gazing at the
countless stars in the sky and wondering if the Demon was right when he
said the world was the most important of all the planets.

But presently he grew sleepy, and before he realized what was happening
he had fallen into a sound and peaceful slumber, while the indicator
still pointed to the southeast and he continued to move rapidly through
the cool night air.

5. The Cannibal Island

Doubtless the adventures of the day had tired Rob, for he slept
throughout the night as comfortably as if he had been within his own
room, lying upon his own bed. When, at last, he opened his eyes and
gazed sleepily about him, he found himself over a great body of water,
moving along with considerable speed.

"It's the ocean, of course," he said to himself. "I haven't reached
Cuba yet."

It is to be regretted that Rob's knowledge of geography was so
superficial; for, as he had intended to reach Cuba, he should have
taken a course almost southwest from Boston, instead of southeast. The
sad result of his ignorance you will presently learn, for during the
entire day he continued to travel over a boundless waste of ocean,
without the sight of even an island to cheer him.

The sun shone so hot that he regretted he had not brought an umbrella.
But he wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, which protected him somewhat, and
he finally discovered that by rising to a considerable distance above
the ocean he avoided the reflection of the sun upon the water and also
came with the current of good breeze.

Of course he dared no stop, for there was no place to land; so he
calmly continued his journey.

"It may be I've missed Cuba," he thought; "but I can not change my
course now, for if I did I might get lost