The gentleman who had so kindly explained the pilot system to Rollo did not return to the settee after having given the pilot the letter, but went away, and for a few minutes Rollo and Jane were left alone. They observed, too, that a great many of the passengers had disappeared, and now there were very few about the deck. Rollo wondered where they had gone. He soon received some light on the subject, by overhearing one gentleman say to another, as they passed the settee on their promenade,-- "Come, Charley, let us go down and get some lunch." "They are going to lunch," said Rollo. "We will go too. I am beginning to be hungry." "So am I hungry," said Jane. "I did not think of it before; but I am, and I have no doubt that Tiger is hungry too." So Jane took up her cage, and then she and Rollo, walking along together, followed the gentlemen who had said that they were going down to lunch. They walked forward upon the promenade deck till they came to the short flight of stairs, with the green rope balustrade, which led down to the deck below. These stairs were so steep that the children were obliged to proceed with great caution in descending them, in order to get down in safety. They, however, at length succeeded; and then, passing along where they saw that the gentlemen went who preceded them, they entered into a long and narrow passage way, with doors leading to state rooms on either hand. Following this passage way, they came at length to a sort of entry or hall, which was lighted by a skylight above. In the middle of this hall, and under the skylight, was a pretty broad staircase, leading down to some lower portion of the ship. As the men whom they were following went down these stairs, the children went down too. When they got down, they found themselves in a perfect maze of cabins, state rooms, and passage ways, the openings into which were infinitely multiplied by the large and splendid mirrors with which the walls were every where adorned. "Put Tiger down there," said Rollo, pointing to a place near the end of the sofa, "and we will bring her something to eat when we come from lunch." Jane was very anxious to take the kitten with her; but she knew that, under the circumstances in which she was placed, it was proper that she should follow implicitly all of Rollo's directions. So she put the cage down, and then she and Rollo went on together through a door where the gentlemen who had preceded them had gone.