"Oh," said Button-Bright; "is there another half to Sky Island?" "Yes; a dreadful place called the Pink Country. I'm told everything there is pink instead of blue. A fearful place it must be, indeed!" said the Blueskin, with a shudder. "I dunno 'bout that," remarked Cap'n Bill. "That Pink Country sounds kind o' cheerful to me. Is your Blue Country very big?" [Illustration] "It is immense," was the proud reply. "This enormous City extends a half mile in all directions from the center, and the country outside the City is fully a half mile further in extent. That's very big, isn't it?" "Not very," replied Cap'n Bill, with a smile. "We've cities on the Earth ten times bigger--an' then some big besides. We'd call this a small town in our country." "Our Country is thousands of miles wide and thousands of miles long--it's the great United States of America!" added the boy, earnestly. Ghip-Ghisizzle seemed astonished. He was silent a moment, and then he said: "Here in Sky Island we prize truthfulness very highly. Our Boolooroo is not very truthful, I admit, for he is trying to misrepresent the length of his reign, but our people as a rule speak only the truth." "So do we," asserted Cap'n Bill. "What Button-Bright said is the honest truth--every word of it." "But we have been led to believe that Sky Island is the greatest country in the universe--meaning, of course, our half of it, the Blue Country." "It may be for you, perhaps," the sailor stated, politely, "an' I don't imagine any island floatin' in the sky is any bigger. But the Universe is a big place an' you can't be sure of what's in it till you've traveled, like we have." "Perhaps you are right," mused the Blueskin; but he still seemed to doubt them. "Is the Pink side of Sky Island bigger than the Blue side?" asked Button-Bright. "No; it is supposed to be the same size," was the reply. "Then why haven't you ever been there? Seems to me you could walk across the whole island in an hour," said the boy. "The two parts are separated by an impassable barrier," answered Ghip-Ghisizzle. "Between them lies the Great Fog Bank." "A fog bank? Why, that's no barrier!" exclaimed Cap'n Bill. "It is, indeed," returned the Blueskin. "The Fog Bank is so thick and heavy that it blinds one, and if once you got into the Bank you might wander forever and not find your way out again. Also it is full of dampness that wets your clothes and your hair until you become miserable. It is furthermore said that those who enter the Fog Bank forfeit the six hundred years allowed them to live, and are liable to die at any time. Here we do not die, you know; we merely pass away." "How's that?" asked the sailor. "Isn't 'pass'n' away' jus' the same as dyin'?" "No, indeed. When our six hundred years are ended we march into the Great Blue Grotto, through the Arch of Phinis, and are never seen again." "That's queer," said Button-Bright. "What would happen if you didn't march through the Arch?"