"Ever since they discovered me, almost starved, on a desolate island far to the north, these self devoted saviors of humanity, have kept an especial lookout for stranded mariners from the frozen north. And since they captured your little balloon with the dispatch I translated for them, they have known that an entire crew had passed the ice barriers, and they have been more than ever on the alert for an opportunity to render assistance, and conduct you into a safe harbor. They feared that you would be disabled by the almost perpetual calms on these waters, and be carried to the southern verge by these ocean currents which seem to carefully avoid the land. You see with all their watchfulness you have been carried nearly to the equator without being discovered, and you are now fully one thousand miles from land." "It was indeed fortunate," said Captain Ganoe "that we continued to commit dispatches to the care of the winds." "That is true," said MacNair, "but it is more fortunate that you sent up dispatches just when you did, for at that time, the sun begins to heat the air at the southern verge and it rises to higher altitudes and the air in the vicinity flows in to fill the vacuum. This produces a current of air that flows south from the northern verge. It was this breeze which occurs but once a year that brought your balloons south. Had they been sent up at the beginning of the northern summer they would have been carried south on the outside by your equinoctial storms. This is my theory. It may not be a correct one but it satisfies me." "Whether correct or not," said Captain Ganoe, "we know by experience that we had a northerly breeze for several days, which enabled us to use our sails to some advantage. But this breeze soon ceased and as we had no coal we were at the mercy of the ocean currents." "Yes," said MacNair, "there is but little use for sails in this inner world. But with plenty of coal you would have had no difficulty in finding a safe harbor among a highly civilized people, in a country where extremes of heat and cold, and violent storms are unknown." MacNair's remarks were cut short by the appearance on the scene of another magnificent woman who had evidently remained on the airship which had brought him to our deck, and he added: "And now permit me to introduce to you my wife, Iola, who wished to be among the first to welcome you to this inner world." "Glad to meet you," said Captain Ganoe, extending his hand, "and I hope that you will have no reason to regret this addition to your circle of so many of your husband's fellow countrymen." "Thank you," said Iola, in good English, but with a peculiar accent. "On behalf of our people, I take pleasure in extending to you a cordial welcome to our home in Altruria, where we are making a special study of everything we can get concerning the outer world."