f fifty-five feet
at the Mirafiores Locks, a level sail for eight miles more, and they
would emerge on the broad bosom of the Pacific. Then the sails would be
broken out, the engines begin to throb, and away to the western coast or
Manila, or Australia, or China and Japan. The dream of four hundred
years would have become a glorious reality.

In ten hours, the largest steamship could ride in safety from ocean to
ocean. The distance from New York to San Francisco by sea would be
shortened by over nine thousand miles. Liverpool would be brought seven
thousand miles nearer the Pacific Slope. From New York to Manila, five
thousand miles were saved. The commercial supremacy of the sea would be
taken from the maritime nations of Europe and put in the hands of the
United States. That shining strip of water, fifty miles in length, would
prove the "path of empire," and mark a peaceful revolution in the history
of the world.

"And it's time that we came into our own again," declared Bert, as, their
trip finished, they sat on the veranda of the hotel at Colon. "Eighty
years ago, our flag was to be found on every sea. But we've been so busy
with our internal development that we've let the control of the ocean
pass into the hands of others, especially England. It's a burning shame
that most of our commerce is carried in English ships. I hope that, now
the Canal is ready for use, there'll be a big upbuilding of our merchant
marine, and that it'll be no longer true that 'Britannia rules the
waves.'"

"I think that the British already see the handwriting on the wall,"
remarked Dick. "Perhaps that explains their unwillingness to take part
in the San Francisco Exposition. They've made a big fuss because we
don't make our coastwise vessels pay any tolls for going through the
Canal. But I think the real reason lies deeper than that."

"Germany and Russia are none too cordial, either, I notice," said Tom.
"When you come to think of it, we haven't many friends in Europe, anyway."

"No," mused Bert. "About the only real friend that we have over there is
France. As a rule, she's been on pretty good terms with us, ever since
she helped us in our Revolutionary War. We had a little scrap with her
on the sea, once, and we had to warn her to get out of Mexico, when she
tried to back up Maximilian there. But our republican form of government
appeals to her, and, on the whole, she likes us.

"But Russia feels a little sore, be