number of rich young Englishmen on their travels,
and the hospitable efforts of the purser, the time
passed quickly on the "Mongolia." The best of fare
was spread upon the cabin tables at breakfast, lunch,
dinner, and the eight o'clock supper, and the ladies
scrupulously changed their toilets twice a day; and
the hours were whiled away, when the sea was tran-
quil, with music, dancing, and games.

But the Red Sea is full of caprice, and often
boisterous, like most long and narrow gulfs. When
the wind came from the African or Asian coast, the
"Mongolia," with her long hull, rolled fearfully.
Then the ladies speedily disappeared below; the pianos
were silent; singing and dancing suddenly ceased.
Yet the good ship ploughed straight on, unretarded by
wind or wave, towards the straits of Bab-el-
Mandeb.

What was Phileas Fogg doing all this time? It
might be thought that, in his anxiety, he would be
constantly watching the changes of the wind, the dis-
orderly raging of the billows--every chance, in short,
which might force the "Mongolia" to slacken her
speed, and thus interrupt his journey. But if he
thought of these possibilities, he did not betray the
fact by any outward sign.

Always the same impassable member of the Reform
Club, whom no incident could surprise, as unvarying
as the ship's chronometers, and seldom having the

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