All of the Frenchmen were as affable as their leader, and he presented them in turn. De Beauxchamps conversed almost gaily with such of the ladies as had sufficient command of their feelings to join the throng that pressed about him and his companions. He was deeply touched by the story of the recent rescue of his countrymen from the Pyrenees, and he went among them, trying to cheer them up, with the _élan_ that no misfortune can eradicate from the Gallic nature. At length Cosmo reminded him that he had said that he had some interesting news to communicate. "Yes," said De Beauxchamps, "I have just come from a visit to Paris." Exclamations of amazement and incredulity were heard on all sides. "It is true," resumed the Frenchman, though now his voice lost all its gayety. "I had conceived the project of such a visit before I met the Ark and transferred His Majesty, the King of England, to your care. As soon as that was done I set out to make the attempt." "But tell me first," interrupted Cosmo, "how you succeeded in finding the Ark again." "That was not very difficult," replied De Beauxchamps, smiling. "Of course, it was to some extent accidental, for I didn't _know_ that you would be here, navigating over France; but I had an idea that you _might_ come this way if you had an intention of seeing what had happened to Europe. It is my regular custom to rise frequently to the surface to take a look around and make sure of my bearings, and you know that the Ark makes a pretty large point on the waters. I saw it long before you caught sight of me." "Very well," said Cosmo. "Please go on with your story. It must, indeed, be an extraordinary one." "I was particularly desirous of seeing Paris again, deep as I knew her to lie under the waves," resumed De Beauxchamps, "because it was my home, and I had a house in the Champs Elysées. You cannot divorce the heart of a Frenchman from his home, though you should bury it under twenty oceans." "Your family were lost?" "Thank God, I had no family. If I had had they would be with me. My companions are all like myself in that respect. We have lost many friends, but no near relatives. As I was saying, I started for France, poor drowned France, as soon as I left you. With the powerful searchlight of the _Jules Verne_ I could feel confident of avoiding obstructions; and, besides, I knew very closely the height to which the flood had risen, and having the topography of my country at my fingers' ends, as does every officer of the army, I was able to calculate the depth at which we should run in order to avoid the hilltops." "But surely," said Cosmo, "it is impossible--at least, it seems so to me--that you can descend to any great depth--the pressure must be tremendous a few hundred feet down, to say nothing of possible thousands."