lgrave,
to whom he had directed his steps.

"There is always something to be seen in a narrow gulf like this, though
we shall be out of sight of land to-morrow morning when you come on
deck. We are now abreast of a plateau 1,600 feet high, which extends for
about thirty miles along the coast. It is a part of the desert of Kaa,
which extends to the southern point of the peninsula, over which you
would have had to travel first by camel for nearly twenty miles, if we
had gone to Mount Sinai by the only route open to us.

"We have seen about deserts enough," added the lady.

"Then you are the better prepared for the immense contrast between
plains of sand and the rich lands of India, covered with the most
luxuriant foliage. Now we have it at its best!" exclaimed the commander.

"What do we have? I don't see anything."

"We have Mount Serbal, which some believe is the genuine Mount Sinai,"
continued the commander, as he pointed out the loftiest peak in sight,
and which was readily distinguished from all others.

All the passengers had by this time gathered near him; for all of them
were anticipating a sight at the lofty height which had given a name to
the peninsula, though its real name is Arabia Petraea, as we used to read
about it in "Stephens's Travels" sixty years ago.

"That mountain is the highest on the peninsula; and if it is not the
real Mount Sinai, where the law was delivered to Moses, some insist that
it ought to be, for they say it is loftier, grander, nobler, and more
worthy the great event than the one which is generally assigned as its
location," said the captain. "As you have been informed before, Serbal
is 8,712 feet high."

Mrs. Blossom did not appear to be satisfied. Evidently she desired to
"gush" over the Holy Mountain; but the doubt as to "which was which," as
she stated it, bothered her very seriously, and she was not at all
friendly to the "pesky Bible critics," who had raised the doubt as to
its identity.

"Jebel Musa!" shouted the commander a couple of hours later; and the
party gathered around him again.

"What on earth is that?" demanded the good lady.

"Keep cool, Sarah," said Mrs. Belgrave to her. "The captain will tell
you all about it in due time."

"Jebel, or gebel, means a mountain in Arabic; Musa is sometimes spelled
Moosa; and the whole name, I suppose, is 'Mountain of Moses,'" the
commander explained as soon as he had enabled every one to see the peak
that went by this na