friends was present to see them off.

"Take good care of yourself," cautioned Mrs. St. John as she kissed her
son good-bye. "Don't be afraid to telegraph us!"

The train pulled out with a last cheer from the frat fellows, and Burt
and Howard realized that they were actually off. They arrived in New
York at noon and Mr. Wallace took them direct to the Explorers' Club for
luncheon.

Here they first began to feel in touch with the outside world. The club
was an institution composed of explorers, hunters and wanderers in
foreign lands. Its walls were decorated with game heads, arms and armor
of many savage tribes, while in glass cases were hung odd costumes and
headgear and unique relics and curios. At the dining-room tables the
boys saw bronzed and bearded men who nodded to Mr. Wallace like old
friends or spoke to him in strange tongues.

"You fellows wait for me in the library," said the explorer as they
finished luncheon. "I guess you'll find plenty to amuse you there. We'll
stop here for to-night. I'm going down to send off some cables now and
get part of our outfit ordered ahead. When I come back we'll go out and
see the town a little."

"Did you get rooms on the steamer?" asked Critch.

"Wired last night. The answer will be down here at the office but
there's not much doubt about getting them. See you in the library."

The boys made themselves at home in the library and in half an hour Mr.
Wallace returned with the stateroom slips. Then they took a taxi and
made a few purchases for the voyage. As there was nothing to be obtained
except some clean linen and a steamer rug each, they spent most of the
afternoon "seeing" New York City.

The evening spent at the club was a wonderful one to the boys. On
talking it over later they found that they had only a confused memory
of meeting several famous men and of hearing some surprising stories.

"Critch!" whispered Burt as they lay in bed. "'Member that thin fellow
with the scar on his chin? S'pose his yarn was true!"

"What? About being tortured by New Guinea cannibals?" returned his chum.
"Prob'ly. That sure was a whopper though that the man with the black
beard told! The one that'd been in China, I mean."

"Said he had photos of the Forbidden City, didn't he?" asked Burt. "Gee!
That story of his about the joss with the emerald eyes and the ropes of
pearls--"

So it went until long past midnight when the boys finally fell asleep.
They were up early and after br