Page:The Boy Travellers in South America.djvu/29

 New York to San Francisco in twenty-three days. Now we can go in a week by the railway, and it is contrary to the American temperament to make the longer journey." Frank and Fred were agreeably disappointed in the expectation of a storm before reaching the Caribbean Sea. In looking up the accounts of previous travellers they had found an old couplet:

" If the Bermudas let you pass, You must beware of Hatteras."

They questioned the captain on the subject, and found that the poetical assertion was not without basis, as many a ship sailing on her course had encountered a gale in the neighborhood either of Cape Hatteras or the Bermuda Islands. " But in marine verses, as in every other sort," the captain continued, "you must allow for the poet's license, which often requires a very large margin to include it." Hatteras and " the vexed Bermoothes " permitted them to pass without a semblance of a gale. They sighted one of the islands of the Bahama group, and there was great excitement on board the steamer when it was discovered that a ship was stranded on the shore. Fred and Frank rushed below to tell the Doctor, and that worthy ran on deck as soon as he could don his hat and coat. The captain scanned with his glass the unfortunate

A STRANDED SHIP.