They had a good look at the two Presidents--President Campos-Salles whose term of office was just over, and Affonzo Penna who was the new President--and returned home quite excited with the events of the morning. Next day they had planned an excursion to the top of Corcovado, that beautiful mountain which rises above Rio, serene and lofty, toward the clouds, and all was excitement as the little party started off. "Think of having mamma with us!" cried Lola. "Uncle Hilario, have you and mamma been up the mountain before?" "I should say we had," he laughed, then turning to his sister, "Do you remember the time we were caught in the terrible storm?" "It was a terrific cloud burst, but we didn't mind it," she said, laughing too. "In those days climbing Corcovado was something of a feat. There was no cog-wheel railway as there is to-day but only a bridle-path. We had to start long before daybreak and climb up the side of the mountain. We had to take servants along to carry provisions and there was always a large party going. "The time your uncle speaks of, he and I got separated from the rest of the party going down and we came near losing our way entirely. There came up a terrible storm and when we finally arrived at home an hour after the others we were drenched to the skin, and they had sent people out to hunt for us. "It is a very different thing to-day to go up the mountain seated in a carriage, find a café at the top, and have nothing to do but look at the sights as we pass. They are well worth looking at! See! There is the bay, its water as blue as the sky, and you get a fine view of the old aqueduct." "I wondered what that was," said Maria. "It looks like the pictures I have seen of the Campagna at Rome. Is it made of stone?" "Yes," said her uncle. "It was built of stone nearly two hundred years ago and is over four miles long. In some places its arches are over sixty feet high and it is as strong as when it was built. Through it passes all the water drunk in Rio, and is so delicious that we have a saying 'Who has drunk of the waters of Carioca can drink no other water,' and 'When you have drunk of the water of Carioca, you can live nowhere else but here.'" "When Rio people speak of the friends who have lived in Rio they say, 'He is a Cariocan.'" "Then mamma is a Cariocan!" cried Lola, and Maria added, "And my father, too." "It seems to almost walk across the chasm," said Affonzo. "Where does the water come from?" "When we reach the top of the mountain, I will show you," said his uncle. "See those magnificent waterfalls and cascades! The scenery around here is as fine as any in Brazil." "It is almost as nice as the White Mountains at home," said Maria wickedly. She loved to stir up her cousins and knew that to compare anything with the States always provoked a discussion. This time her remarks were met with a storm of protest, at which she only laughed naughtily.