t.

"Ah, yes, so I had," observed the Baron, and he hurried off to the
laundress for them. He soon returned, and the valises being filled and
strapped up, the Baron tucked one under each arm.

"Stop," said the Count, "I must give directions to my housekeeper about
the management of my castle and estates during my absence."

"Tell her to bolt the windows and lock all the doors of the castle, so
that no one can get in; and as for the estates, they won't run away,"
said the Baron.

"Thank you for the bright idea; I'll act upon it," answered the Count.
"Still, people do lose their estates in some way or other. How is
that?"

"Because they do not look properly after them," answered the Baron.

"But mine are secured to my heirs," said the Count.

"Then they cannot run away unless your heirs run also, therefore pray
set your mind at rest on that score; and now come along." The Baron as
he spoke took up the two portmanteaus, which were patent Lilliputians,
warranted to carry any amount of clothing their owners could put into
them, and they set off on their travels.

"In what direction shall we go?" asked the Count.

"That must depend upon circumstances," answered the Baron. "Wherever
the wind blows us."

"But suppose it should blow one day in one direction and another in the
opposite, how shall we ever get to the end of our voyage?" inquired the
Count, stopping, and looking his companion in the face.

"That puzzles me, but let us get on board first, and see how things turn
out," observed the Baron. "Ships do go round the world somehow or
other, and I suppose if they do not find a fair wind in one place they
find it another."

"But how are they to get to that other place?" asked the Count, who was
in an inquisitive mood.

"That's what we are going to find out," observed the Baron.

"But must we go by sea?" asked the Count. "Could not we keep on the
land, and then we shall be independent of the wind?"

"My dear Count, don't you know that we cannot possibly get round the
world unless we go by sea?" exclaimed the Baron. "I thought that you
had received a better education than to be ignorant of that fact."

"Ah, yes, to be sure, when I have condescended to look at a map, I have
observed that there are two great oceans, dividing the continent of
America from Europe on one side, and Asia on the other, but I had
forgotten it at the moment. However, is it absolutely necessary to go
all the way round the world