taining a handsome present, were sent also in the parcel--a good big
one, you may be sure--for distribution amongst the crew. It was
princely gratitude, wasn't it, in spite of the slighting way in which
Mr Moynham had spoken of the modern Greeks and their ways? However, he
had to "take it all back," as he said, when he drank the health of
Monsieur Pericles--who seemed, by the way, to be much better off than
his illustrious ancestor, and whom we put down as the Sultan Haroun el
Raschid in disguise--in a glass of the very wine that he had sent on
board the yacht.

But that wasn't the end of it all, by any means:-- why, I am only just
coming to my real story now.

Time rolled on--when I say "time," of course, I only mean hours and days
as we mean, not years and centuries as the ancients calculated the lapse
of time--and we managed to see everything that sight-seers see in the
city of Minerva.

Having nothing else to look at close at hand, therefore, we determined
to go on our travels, like Ulysses; not amongst the islands, which we
had already visited, but towards the mountains, Captain Buncombe having
made a vow ere he left England to see the ruins of Thebes, after which,
he said, he would have no further object in life, and would perform the
Japanese feat of the "happy despatch!"

We had horses, and mules, and donkeys for the journey; that is, dad and
the captain rode horses, there were mules for our traps and food, which
we had to take along with us, thanks to the hospitality of the regions
we were going to, while the donkeys were for Bob and me and Mr Moynham.
That gentleman, who would be very positive when he liked, declared that
no earthly consideration should compel him to mount the Bucephalus that
was provided for him. He said that a horse was expressly stated by King
David to be "a vain thing to save a man," and so why should he go
against that ruling?

The first part of our journey went off as jolly as possible: the way was
good; the scenery--although I confess I didn't trouble my head very much
about it--though dad and the captain were in raptures with it--
magnificent; the halts, just at the right time, although all in classic
places, whose names Bob and I hated the sound of; the food was first-
rate, and Mr Moynham so funny, that he nearly made me roll off my
donkey every now and then with laughter. But towards evening, when we
were all ascending a steep hill, with rocks and thick shrubbery on each
s