“‘But very soon I perceived that there were quite a number of us being carried by the cloud, and as we were all in the same boat, so to speak, it was not long before we became quite friendly. “‘As the days went by we often talked about the things over which we passed, and many a time we wondered what some of them meant. “‘Very strangely, perhaps, the higher we were taken into the air, the better our eyesight became; until, like ocean birds, we could see right down into the deepest deeps of the sea. It was, therefore, not at all difficult for us to pick out all kinds of things not usually seen from the surface of the water, or even from the top of a ship’s mast. “‘One of the first and most alluring sights we thus saw, was a circular bed of coral, all pink and glowing in the clear still depths of the Pacific Ocean. “‘Later on, when crossing the Caribbean Sea, we saw enormous masses of coloured sea-weeds fantastically curling their hands and arms in a never-ending variety of graceful movements. Almost immediately, there came before our eyes dark old Spanish galleons, stuffed with stolen gold, sunk by British merchant-ships, or maybe privateers, all their crews still stark and stiff in the deep unmoving waters. Not far removed was the gallant little ship in which Sir Richard Grenville and his glorious crew fought, single-handed, a fleet of Spanish Buccaneers; and, rather than yield, sank beside their guns. There they were, still resolute of pose in spite of all the years that have gone since then, and, seemingly, ready as ever to uphold the valour and the honour of the British race. “‘Anon came other sights and scenes. Southward over Africa we float, peering at the Kraals, or houses, of African negroes; the patches where they grow their mealies, and the wide open spaces where their cattle roam. And, heavy now with our growing weight, the cloud just skims over the tall tops of a far-flung forest, when, full in view upon a great square of cleared land, we see a mighty host of stalwart Zulus being marshalled by their Chief in readiness for war. Without the slightest warning, they give vent to a most terrifying shout. Instantly a vast number of our fellow-travellers, thoroughly startled, fall from the cloud to the ground, and, as it suddenly rises again, we see them running as hard as they can for the creeks and the river not far away.