"What does this mean? I thought that you told me every thing was ready to get up steam on short notice. There is not an ounce of coal in sight and the bunkers are as neat as a lady's bandbox. How do you expect to get up steam without fuel?" "We shall burn water," said Huston. "Burn water!" exclaimed the Captain. "Have your new surroundings led you to believe that we can set aside the laws of nature?" "Nothing of the kind," said Huston, "but I am learning much concerning the laws of nature that I never before suspected. You see this little metallic cube. I drop it into this jar of water. See it effervesce. I apply this match. See how it burns! This little cube dissolving in the water, converts it into its original gases. You see now how we can burn water. This tank, connected by these pipes with the furnace under the boiler, contains water that has been charged with these metallic cubes, the constituent elements of which have been found in coal and lime. I now turn on this prepared water and apply an electric spark. See the fierce flame! We shall soon have steam without having vitiated the atmosphere with smoke, which in this country is regarded as a nuisance not to be tolerated. Dione superintended this part of the arrangements." "Wonderful! Wonderful!" was all that Captain Ganoe had to say, and he passed out leaving Huston at his post as engineer. I remained behind as I wanted to have a talk with Huston, concerning what Oqua had told us, that he and Dione intended to be registered as man and wife and that he expected Captain Ganoe would object. I asked him why he expected any opposition from the Captain. "Because," said he, "Captain Ganoe, with all his good qualities, is a living personification of every popular error which forms a part of the outer world education, law and custom." "But," I asked, "on what grounds do you expect him to object?" "He will," said Huston, "unless I have misjudged the man, raise the question that I have a living wife, from whom I have no legal grounds for divorce. This is true so far as the law goes, but false in every feature that constitutes a true marriage. Captain Ganoe is familiar with all the particulars, and still he entirely disapproves of the course I took, in taking the law into my own hands and severing the bonds, just as soon as I discovered the fraud that had been perpetrated on me." "Won't you give me the particulars?" I asked. "I am especially interested in learning all about it." "I have no objections," said Huston. "It is no secret. But steam will soon be up and our time is limited." "But please give me a brief outline," I persisted. "I am indeed vitally interested in learning the principal facts in this case." Huston regarded me for a moment with a puzzled expression of countenance and then said: