lly interested. Well, I must keep my promise, now, and behave
myself--that is clear!"

CHAPTER XV.

TROPICAL EVENINGS.

Our voyagers thought they had already known something of torrid heat, but
the next few days was to show that, as yet, they had only begun to
appreciate it; for there is but one hotter zone on earth than this in
which the Red Sea lies, and that contains the Persian Gulf and Senegambia.

As they steamed into the Suez Canal, upon leaving uninteresting Port
Said, every one was brought to the decks by curiosity and interest. This
world-renowned ditch, which has revolutionized the commerce and travel of
the whole earth, begins with much breadth and promise, but soon narrows
down to a watery roadway, scarcely wider than a city street, where
meeting vessels cannot pass, except as one hugs the siding, and at night
the "International" was obliged to "tie up," as the captain expressed it,
that there need be no danger of collisions.

Its great propelling screw churned the narrow stream into waves that wore
away the sandy banks on either side, and the cries of the flamingoes,
storks, and pelicans, inhabiting the marshes, were constantly in the ears
of the deck loungers.

Dwight, perhaps, was the one who wrested the most fun from the situation,
for while the rest soon grew weary of the monotony, and lethargic with
the heat, groaning aloud every time they had to seek the siding in order
to let some great train of laden boats go by, he found fresh enjoyment in
every stop, and in blouse and knickerbockers, with bare feet, paddled
about on the moist banks, making friends with the half-clothed
camel-drivers, whose patient beasts knelt so obediently to be loaded with
the silt deposits taken from the bed of the canal, and collecting items
of interest in regard to this artery of commerce which might have made
even its founder open his eyes. The girls profited by his researches,
and it was, indeed, a common thing for any passenger, when asking
questions about "De Lessep's Ditch," to hear, "Oh, ask Dwight! He knows
it all."

Both here, and on the Red Sea, into which they entered on the third
morning, the staterooms and cabins, in spite of waving punkahs, were
almost intolerable, and nobody could get up life enough to do more than
lounge feebly on the upper decks in their lightest clothing, reading the
lightest literature. At night, mattresses were laid on deck, and most of
the men slept there, while our twi