You have now arrived at an age of discretion. You have doubtless learned that “truth is stranger than fiction” and have probably had many queer experiences of your own. My father left a secret with me that I have never dared divulge, because of the strict ideas of your sweet mother. It is, therefore, left to you to exploit it. In the Desert of Sahara, at Oasis Tel Ali, there grows a bunch of gigantic palms in the top of which is a great egg. Secure this egg and you will find your reward upon it. Your affectionate FATHER. [Illustration] After pondering the matter a short time, I called into requisition my experience with the bark of the tree. I repaired to the mountainous seacoast and constructed a more roomy and accurate wind toboggan, and, waiting until a strong wind prevailed in the right direction, I set sail. As I was inexperienced in the handling of such a vehicle, and as the wind was blowing a gale in my teeth, I soon found myself so high above the earth it was with difficulty I could discern enough of the lay of the land and water by which to guide myself. In fact, I had gone with such rapidity that I was sailing above the Desert of Sahara before I had calculated to have sighted it. It may possibly be that I was several days in making the trip and that the excitement of it caused the time to speed so rapidly as to mislead me; for, being so high above the earth, I was in perpetual sunlight, as I am sure the sun did not set while making the passage. It occurs to me now that the fact probably was that as I started from the Pacific Coast and traveled westward my speed simply equaled that of the earth in its eastward movement. When I concluded to descend I was compelled to take a circular course in order not to come down too rapidly. I had scanned the desert for the palm trees, mentioned by my father, by the aid of my telescope, which I had brought with me, the field glass being thought by me too small for the purpose. I soon discerned three monstrous trees which seemed to have but one top to them all. Finding no other object of the same or a similar nature on the surface of this ocean of sand, I rightly conjectured that I had descried the proper point and so maneuvered my vessel as to reach it easily, when I observed a horde of warriors of the desert gesticulating wildly below me. I saw all this with my telescope, as I was still too far above the surface of the earth to have made the discovery with the naked eye. I was not in the least daunted by this discovery, and continued my descent. The swiftness of the animals carrying those nomads was marvelous, for, though I traveled with greater speed than that of the wind, they seemed to be always beneath my car and were increasing in numbers.