We have three hundred and twenty-five miles to
make. The monsoon is about as fresh here as it has been all the voyage;
and we have used up about half of our coal, so that we are considerably
lighter than when we left Kuching, and with the sail we can easily log
nine knots an hour. We shall go into the Menan River before sundown
to-morrow, and it will take two or three hours to go up to the city. We
shall be alongside the ship some time in the evening; and that is just
the time I should like to be there."

"We shall give our friends a tremendous surprise," added Louis.

"That is so; for while your anxious mamma is worrying for fear you have
been chewed up by an orang-outang, and Flix's grandma is dreaming that
he has been swallowed whole by a big boa-constrictor, we shall drop in
on them while they are singing gospel hymns in the music-room."

"I shall be sorry to disappoint grandma; but if she insists upon
dreaming such nonsense, it is not my fault," added Felix. "She ought to
know by this time that snakes don't swallow me till they get a bullet
through their heads."

"I don't think my mother has been greatly worried about me, for she has
learned that I am able to take care of myself," said Louis.

"But the mothers will hug their boys as soon as they get hold of them."

"I wish the hugging might be confined to the mothers, for it is
perfectly proper for them to do that thing; but when it comes to a
grandma who hasn't a drop of Irish blood in her veins, I beg to be
excused, and, what is more, I won't stand it," protested Felix, making a
very comical face.

"But you can't help yourself, Flix," laughed the captain.

"You see if I don't!" replied the Milesian, shaking his head as though
his plan to avoid the endearing reception had already been formed.

"We shall see what we shall see," added the captain. "It seems to me
that the breeze is stronger here than it was out at sea."

"There is a hot country to the east of us, and perhaps the wind is
hurrying up to fill a partial vacuum there," suggested Louis.

"You are a philosopher, my darling Louis, and that must be the reason,"
added Felix.

The Blanchita seemed to be flying through the water, for her speed had
sensibly increased since she came into the Gulf. There were several
large islands along the coast of Cambodia; but the course was fifty
miles outside of the mainland, which could not be seen.

"Why do you keep so far from the shore, Captain Scott?" asked