_The governor rested a moment after reaching the summit of the vast mountain peak, and then, drawing a deep breath he put spurs to his horse and shot down the steep declivity, pursued by the savage mountain goats. The three colonels were still in an exhausted state, and their weight greatly retarded the speed of the gallant steed, yet, strange as it may seem, the descent was made in an incredibly short time. In ten minutes the little cavalcade rode safely out on the shelving beach, and the governor urged his horse boldly into the Atlantic Ocean. “Now, for a long swim,” said he._ ] [Illustration: _Fortunately, the weather was fine. The sun shone warmly and the sea was calm. Under these favoring conditions it was only a few days until the headlands of the Azores were sighted off the port beam. Hunger and fatigue racked the governor, but he did not stop. He shouted “Courage, my noble steed. The way is long, but we shall soon be there.” One of the colonels was revived by the cool water, and from his position amidships passed the days pleasantly in watching the wonderful dwellers of the deep as they darted hither and thither alongside. On the thirty-fourth day the governor sighted a low group of islands off to the s’uth’ard. He sniffed a moment. “The Bermudas,” he said. And he was right. They were the Bermudas where the onions come from. From this point he shaped his course nor by nor west, intending to land on American shores about four miles west of Oyster Bay. But he was thrown out of his course by adverse currents and strong head winds, and had to make his landing six miles east of Oyster Bay. Still he was not discouraged._ ] [Illustration: _“Home again!” shouted the governor in joyous exultation, and again putting spurs to his gallant steed he galloped across the Alleghanies, cleared the Ohio at a bound and soon saw the towering dome of his beloved state-house in the distance. Large throngs of office-holders heralded his coming with glad shouts. Ten minutes later he was deep in a consultation regarding his chances of heading off the Deneen boom._ ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE DEATH OF POPE LEO [Illustration: Leo XIII Born 1810 Died 1903 ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). End of Project Gutenberg's The Mysterious Stranger, by John T. McCutcheon