The king looked puzzled, and Cosmo explained that they were still near the center of the American continent, and that the great peak before them was the sentinel of the Rocky Mountains. "But," replied the king, "I understood you that the whole world was covered, and that the Himalayas would be the first to emerge." "That's what I believed," said Cosmo, "but the facts are against me." "So you thought you were going to run over the Rockies!" exclaimed the captain gleefully. "They're no Gaurisankars, hey, M. De Beauxchamps?" "_Vive les Rockies! Vive le Pike!_" cried the Frenchman, catching the captain's enthusiasm. "But how do you explain it?" asked King Richard. "It's the batholite," responded Cosmo, using exactly the same phrase that Professor Pludder had employed some months before. "And pray explain to me what is a batholite?" Before Cosmo Versál could reply there was a terrific crash, and the Ark, for the third time in her brief career, had made an unexpected landing. But this time the accident was disastrous. All on the bridge, including Captain Arms, who should surely have known the lay of the land about his childhood's home, had been so interested in their talk that before they were aware of the danger the great vessel had run her nose upon a projecting buttress of the mountain. She was going at full speed, too. Not a person aboard but was thrown from his feet, and several were severely injured. The prow of the Ark was driven high upon a sloping surface of rock, and the tearing sounds showed only too clearly that this time both bottoms had been penetrated, and that there could be no hope of saving the huge ship or getting her off. Perhaps at no time in all their adventures had the passengers of the Ark been so completely terrorized and demoralized, and many members of the crew were in no better state. Cosmo and the captain shouted orders, and ran down into the hold to see the extent of the damage. Water was pouring in through the big rents in torrents. There was plainly nothing to be done but to get everybody out of the vessel and upon the rocks as rapidly as possible. The forward parts of the promenade-deck directly overhung the rock upon which the Ark had forced itself, and it was possible for many to be let down that way. At the same time boats were set afloat, and dozens got ashore in them. While everybody was thus occupied with things immediately concerning their safety, nobody paid any attention to the approach of a boat, which had set out from a kind of bight in the face of the mountain. Cosmo was at the head of the accommodation-ladder that was being let down on the starboard side, when he heard a shout, and, lifting his eyes from his work, was startled to see a boat containing, beside the rowers, two men whom he instantly recognized--they were President Samson and Professor Pludder.