ep up the philosophy, and remain cool. 'You're on
the passage, too--are you, John?' inquired I, finding him turning the
most artistic somersaults in his descent. 'Yes,' he replied, in a tone
indicative of sorrow; 'blast you, and your Young American policy. This
is the natural result of soaring above a reasonable level.. Your
manifest destiny is finding its proper depths now!' John was terribly
chagrined; he reckoned Young America was a shade too fast. Flying, he
said, was at best a mighty poor business; once again on firm footing
he would for ever look upon manifest destiny as the most aerial thing
of the fast nineteenth century.

CHAPTER XI.

MR. SMOOTH IS RIGHT SIDE UP.

"'This side up--with care!' said I, finding we must come down, and
keeping an eye on John, who looked as burly as a drifting ale pipe in
a head sea, and whispered something about Young America being an
unpleasant companion to sail the air with. Feeling how much better it
was to be good-natured, I took the matter mathematically, trusting to
the best. To be always right end up is a principle never to be lost
sight of. There was land below us, firm and frowning; which, before we
knew where we were, we had slipped into, like preserved meat, up to
our arm-pits. Poor John made an awful blubbering; seeing which, I told
him to be good-natured, and at the same time inquired if he had worked
up his whereabouts on the way down.

"'A pretty affair this!' said he, angrily. 'Here, on a desolate
island, surrounded by a broad ocean, what chance is there for us to
save ourselves, or ever again make the confines of civilization?
Despondency knows no joking; and, in such a perplexity, questions
about reckoning are out of place. You may make light of it, Mr.
Smooth; but, if you please, let us think of some way to deliver
ourselves,' grumbled John, sweating, puffing, and blowing. Finally, he
said he wished the old gentleman with the horns had made a previous
demand on him, inasmuch as it would have saved him the trouble of
dying on so desolate a spot, which to him seemed the sorest grievance
of all.

"'You groan over it some, don't you, old fellow? Reckon how you hain't
seen a Yankee try his ingenuity. Just puff a spell, until Mr. Smooth
calmly studies a little philosophy, which is a mighty good thing in
cases of emergency like this,' I remarked in reply, getting my ideas
into a fix, in order to bring out the best point of operation. Working
myself out in a