Several more pieces were sung, and the newness of their position began to wear off toward evening. After this the rooms were assigned to each by the Doctor, who was by common consent, recognized as captain of the ship. Himself and wife occupied the largest of the sleeping apartments, a beautiful bedroom, twelve feet square. How pure, sweet, and clean they all were! The ceilings, walls, floors, and furniture, all of that marvelous metal, aluminum. Rugs laid about as required were the only covering upon the floors. At six o'clock, Sing announced dinner. As they repaired to the dining-room and sat in the dainty aluminum chairs about the aluminum table, set with a complete service of the same metal, they could not repress their expressions of delight. They sat with bowed heads while Dr. Jones invoked the Divine blessing upon the food of which they were about to partake, and asked His special protection and care during the unknown perils before them. As the meal progressed, they grew quite talkative and merry. "This is high living in more senses than one," remarked Fred as he finished a plate of soup. "Yes," returned Mrs. Jones, "we have picked up a jewel of a cook." "How are you getting along, girls?" cried the genial Doctor, from the lower end of the table where he sat carving the meat. "Just splendidly, Doctor," replied Mattie, gaily. "Your picnic is turning out to be a grander success than you ever could have dreamed of." "I don't know," he returned as his eye swept about the room and out of the window. "I had my ideas up pretty high, but I must admit that this rather exceeds my highest flights of imagination." "My ideal of pleasure, so far as eating goes, used to be that of sitting in a Pullman dining-car, flying at the rate of forty miles an hour or more. I have spent an hour at such a table more than once, looking out of the great windows as I ate, and thought I knew all about it. But ah! I had never dined with the 'Children of the Skies,'" said Will. And so they pleasantly chatted through the meal. Mrs. Jones, who sat at the other end of the table, poured the tea. "It may be imagination, but everything seems to taste better than common aboard this ship," said Professor Gray. "Now, this tea is remarkably fragrant and delicious. It is a beverage that I do not as a rule care much for. What particular variety of tea is it?" "It is the very best quality of Ceylon. I have forbidden the use of any other kind by my patients. The Ceylon tea possesses little or no tannic acid, and is not nearly so deleterious to weak stomachs as other varieties. Speaking of teas, I suppose that you have all heard of one brand of tea called 'Gunpowder.' I could tell you a very good story about Gunpowder tea if you wish to hear it." A general desire being expressed to hear it, the Doctor began: