Their first exclamation was one
of disappointment. The shores were perfectly flat, and, seen from the
distance at which they were anchored, little except the spires of the
churches and the roofs of a few of the more lofty houses could be seen.
After the magnificent harbour of Rio, this flat, uninteresting coast was
most disappointing.

'What a distance we are anchored from the shore!' Hubert said, when they
had recovered a little from their first feeling. 'It must be three or
four miles off.'

'Not so much as that, Hubert,' Maud, who was just a little fond of
contradicting, said; 'not more than two miles, I should think.'

Hubert stuck to his opinion; and as the captain came on deck they
referred the matter to him.

'The distance of objects across water is very deceiving,' he said. 'It
is from eight to nine miles to those buildings you see.'

Maud looked rather crestfallen, and Charley asked, 'Why do we anchor
such a long way off, captain?'

'Because the shore is so flat that there is no water for us to get in
any closer. In a couple of hours you will see boats coming out to fetch
you in; and unless it happens to be high tide, even these cannot get to
the beach, and you will have to land in carts.'

'In carts, Captain Trevor?' they all repeated; 'that will be a strange
way of landing.'

'Yes, it is,' the captain answered. 'I think that we can safely say that
the Argentine Republic is the only country in the world where the only
way to land at its chief city is in a cart.'

The captain's boat was by this time lowered, and he at once started for
shore with his papers. Soon after ten o'clock he returned, followed by a
number of boats. He brought also a letter to Mr. Hardy from an old
friend who had been settled for some years near Buenos Ayres, and whose
advice had decided him to fix upon that country as the scene of his
labours. It contained a warm welcome, and a hearty congratulation upon
their safe arrival. This letter had been written two or three days
previously, and had been left at the office of the steamship company. It
said, however, that the writer would hear of the arrival of the
steamer, and would have everything in readiness to take them out to his
place upon their landing.

Mr. Hardy had been in frequent communication with his friend from the
time that he had determined to emigrate, and Mr. Thompson's letters had
contained the warmest assurance of a welcome, and an invitation to make
his house th