Captain Foster had a great fund of stories gathered during a sea life of forty years, and he remembered and was willing to relate them all. And as the voyage was very uneventful, the captain’s time was largely unoccupied, and he employed much of it in story-telling. So the boys had not a dull moment. After two days of such sailing the Princess Mary entered the Bosporus. It had been Captain Foster’s custom to stop at Constantinople, but there had lately been so many rumors that Turkey was about to join Germany in the war that he decided to make no stop on that voyage. The ship, therefore, was headed to pass directly through, and the boys thought that they would see the interesting foreign sights only from a distance. There was the great city of Constantinople on one side, and the beautiful heights of Scutari on the other, both of which places they would have loved to visit. Then, as they were passing the entrance to the harbor of the Golden Horn, a launch flying the Turkish flag signaled them to stop. In obedience to the summons Captain Foster lay to, and they were boarded by a Turkish officer who demanded their clearance papers. After he had examined the papers he went below with Captain Foster to inspect the cargo. Sidney and Raymond waited on deck in great anxiety. They could not face with equanimity the possibility of being detained at Constantinople. The narrow straits into which they had entered seemed to them like the door through which they would pass for home, and to have that door close and shut them out was too dreadful to contemplate. “Sid,” said Raymond, as they waited in suspense for the return on deck of the Turkish officer, “if we are stopped here I shall escape in some way and swim across to the other side. If Byron could do that with his club feet I am sure I can.” “But Byron, you know, swam across the other strait, not this one, and that’s probably narrower.” “I don’t believe it’s any narrower than it is here; why, this is no width at all.” “Well, if you got across you would still be in Turkey.” “Yes, but it would be in the country, and not in a big city.” “It would be in the country if you could land outside of Scutari, but that looks like a pretty big place from here.” And Sidney gazed across at the heights on the other side which were covered with buildings. “I don’t care what there is over there,” declared Raymond; “there’s one thing sure, I’m not going to stay in Constantinople.” “I don’t believe they’ll stop us,” said Sidney; “they’ll be careful how they stop Americans. But we’ll soon know, for here comes that Turk.” The officer approached and looked at the boys, not unkindly. “Where are you boys started for?” he asked in excellent English. “We are going back to New York,” replied Sidney. “Do you live in New York?” “No; we live in Texas.” “Texas; that’s a big State. Let’s see your passport.” Sidney presented that paper to the officer, who read it hastily.