“Clemency being one of the dearest rights of the royal prerogative,” replied Sophia, “I shall pardon them, and I pray you not; to throw any obstacle in the way of their expedition.”

“Very good, your Majesty; but there are state reasons which should be allowed to overrule the impulses of your heart; those gentlemen have forgotten that we were to go and lay the first stone, or rather to cut, to-day, the first branch of your aerial residence at Falcon’s Nest.”

Admiral Willis and his officers having obeyed the preconcerted signal, the whole party started on their land enterprise.  One of the young men was harnessed to a sledge, containing saws, hatchets, a bamboo ladder that had formerly done duty as a staircase to the Nest, and everything else requisite for the contemplated project.

Jack had already started when Sophia called him back, and he hastily obeyed the summons.

“What are your Majesty’s commands?”

“Oh, nothing particular, only should you meet my doll in company with your go-cart, be pleased to pay my respects to them.”  Saying this, she made a low curtsy, and turned her back upon him.

“Your Majesty’s behests shall be obeyed,” said Jack, and he ran off to rejoin the caravan.

The sad ravages of the tempest presented themselves as they proceeded; tall chestnuts lay stretched on the ground, and seemed, by their appearance, to have struggled hard with the storm.

“After all,” inquired Frank, “what is the wind?”

“Wind is nothing more than air rushing in masses from one point to another.”

“And what causes this commotion in the elements?”

“The equilibrium of the atmosphere is disturbed by a variety of actions;—­the diurnal motion of the sun, whose rays penetrate the air at various points; absorption and radiation, which varies according to the nature of the soil and the hour of the day; the inequality of the solar heat, according to seasons and latitude; the formation and condensation of vapor, that absorbs caloric in its formation, and disengages it when being resolved into liquid.”

“I never thought,” remarked Willis, “that there were so many mysteries in a sou’-easter.  Does it blow? is it on the starboard or larboard? was all, in fact, that I cared about knowing.”

“In a word, the various circumstances that change the actual density of the air, making it more rarefied at one point than another, produce currents, the force and direction of which depend upon the relative position of hot and cold atmospheric beds.  Again, the winds acquire the temperature and characteristics of the regions they traverse.”

“That,” observed Frank, “is like human beings; you may generally judge, by the language and manners of a man, the places that he is accustomed to frequent.”

“There are hot and cold winds, wet and dry; then there are the trade winds.”

“Ah, yes,” cried Willis, “these are the winds to talk of, especially when sailing with them—­that is, from east to west; but when your course is different, they are rather awkward affairs to get ahead of.  The way to catch them is to sail from Peru to the Philippines.”