e and thousands of miles
long--it's the great United States of America!" added the boy earnestly.

Ghip-Ghisizzle seemed astonished. He was silent a moment, and then he
said, "Here in Sky Island we prize truthfulness very highly. Our
Boolooroo is not very truthful, I admit, for he is trying to
misrepresent the length of his reign, but our people as a rule speak
only the truth."

"So do we," asserted Cap'n Bill. "What Button-Bright said is the honest
truth, every word of it."

"But we have been led to believe that Sky Island is the greatest
country in the universe--meaning, of course, our half of it, the Blue
Country."

"It may be for you, perhaps," the sailor stated politely. "An' I don't
imagine any island floatin' in the sky is any bigger. But the Universe
is a big place, an' you can't be sure of what's in it till you've
traveled like we have."

"Perhaps you are right," mused the Blueskin, but he still seemed to
doubt them.

"Is the Pink side of Sky Island bigger than the Blue side?" asked
Button-Bright.

"No, it is supposed to be the same size," was the reply.

"Then why haven't you ever been there? Seems to me you could walk
across the whole island in an hour," said the boy.

"The two parts are separated by an impassable barrier," answered
Ghip-Ghisizzle. "Between them lies the Great Fog Bank."

"A fog bank? Why, that's no barrier!" exclaimed Cap'n Bill.

"It is indeed," returned the Blueskin. "The Fog Bank is so thick and
heavy that it blinds one, and if once you got into the Bank, you might
wander forever and not find your way out again. Also, it is full of
dampness that wets your clothes and your hair until you become
miserable. It is furthermore said that those who enter the Fog Bank
forfeit the six hundred years allowed them to live and are liable to
die at any time. Here we do not die, you know; we merely pass away."

"How's that?" asked the sailor. "Isn't 'pass'n' away' jus' the same as
dyin'?"

"No indeed. When our six hundred years are ended, we march into the
Great Blue Grotto, through the Arch of Phinis, and are never seen
again."

"That's queer," said Button-Bright. "What would happen if you didn't
march through the Arch?"

"I do not know, for no one has ever refused to do so. It is the Law,
and we all obey it."

"It saves funeral expenses, anyhow," remarked Cap'n Bill. "Where is
this Arch?"

"Just outside the gates of the City. There is a mountain in the center
of the Blue land,