CHAPTER XII.

ARRIVAL AT ASPINWALL.

Both boys were frightened at the terrific shock they experienced while in the stateroom. Gus had the wind completely knocked out of him, and Oliver was little better off.

“What can it mean?” cried Oliver as he scrambled to his feet.

“Guess we’ve smashed on the rocks!” groaned the stout youth. “Told you we’d go to the bottom.”

“If we have, I’m not going to stay below any longer. Come, let us go on deck.”

Oliver helped Gus to regain his feet, and trembling with excitement as well as fear, they made their way to the cabin. Here nearly all the passengers were assembled, most of them in a high state of excitement.

Among the crowd was Mr. Whyland, who quickly joined the boys.

“What is it? What have we struck?” asked Oliver anxiously.

“I do not know. It was a fearful blow.”

“Are we going to the bottom?”

“Hardly. These steamers are very strongly built. I’ll go on deck and find out.”

But at the companionway he was stopped.

“No one allowed on deck,” said the man in charge of the stairs. “There is no danger, sir.”

“What did we strike?”

“Struck a small freight schooner, and carried away her bow.”

“Did she sink?”

“Oh, no. But we are steaming near her so as to be on the safe side.”

This news was heard by every one who stood around, and its effect was to quiet the fearful ones. Many wondered if the schooner was seriously damaged, and if she would be able to continue her voyage.

It is safe to say that there was little or no sleep that night for those on board the steamer. Towards morning the storm cleared off, and the sun rose bright as ever.

“Well, I never!” declared Gus. “The scene has changed as quickly as it does in a panorama!”

Now that the dreadful rolling had ceased, he felt better, and Oliver was glad to see him indulge in a fair-sized breakfast.

The meal finished, they went on deck. The freight schooner that had been struck was nowhere to be seen. Inquiries brought the information that she had not been seriously damaged and had gone on her way.

The two boys found the day rather monotonous. Look where they might, nothing could be seen but sky and water, the one nearly as blue as the other.

“Blue all around makes one feel blue,” remarked Gus. “But I’m thankful I’m over that awful seasickness. If it had kept up much longer I believe I would have died.”

“No one ever dies of seasickness,” said Mr. Whyland, who had come up. “Your health will be better after this dose.”

“Well, it ought to be,” laughed Gus. “I’ve suffered enough. I ought to have some reward.”

“But we do not always get what we deserve in this world,” responded the gentleman, and for a moment a light shadow swept across his brow. “Sometimes both evil and good pass us by.”

At dinner Oliver did full justice to what was passed to him. Gus felt decidedly strange, and it was some time before he could get into the peculiar way of eating that was prevalent. Everything that he had, seemed to be inclined to slide into his lap.

“We can’t stand on much ceremony,” he said. “I think this chicken leg is better in my stomach than on the floor, so here goes.” And he took the extremity of the fowl between his fingers and ate it that way.

That day and the next passed slowly. Gus was of the opinion they would stop at some place before reaching Aspinwall, but in this he was mistaken. They passed close to the coast of Florida, so close in fact that the sandy shore with the tall and waving trees and bushes could be distinctly seen. On the following day they took the course between Cuba and Yucatan, passing not far from the latter on account of the tide. They were now in the Caribbean Sea, with the Bay of Honduras behind them.

“Looks very much like any other bay or gulf, I suppose,” observed Gus, as he and Oliver stood by the rail watching some sea-gulls as they winged their way around the ship.

“I guess water looks very much the same in all parts of the earth,” was Oliver’s reply.

“Mostly,” put in Mr. Whyland, who had overheard the last words; “although there are some places where it is quite different. Lake Como in Switzerland is as blue as indigo; the waters of some South American rivers are intensely green; and then there are the Red and Black Seas――so called from their general appearance.”

“I should like to see them all,” returned Oliver. “Some day, if I am able, I intend to become a great traveler.”

“It is very pleasant,” said the gentleman. “But it takes a lot of money, I can assure you.”

Early on the day following, land somewhere on the isthmus was seen; and late in the afternoon they steamed into the harbor at Aspinwall, and dropped anchor. The boys were eager to go ashore, but were told that no passengers would be allowed to land until the following morning.

“Well, so much of the journey is done,” said Oliver. “How I wish this was San Francisco Bay!”

“I don’t know as I do,” returned Gus. “Now that I’ve got over that nasty seasickness, I rather enjoy the trip.”

“I would too, if I didn’t have anything on my mind.”

“Well, you ought not to let that interfere. Worry won’t do any good.”

In the fast approaching darkness but little could be seen. The boys were sure Aspinwall was a poorly illuminated town, so few lights could be distinguished. They went below and made all necessary preparations for leaving the steamer.

The evening passed quickly. At ten o’clock the boys turned in so as to be on hand bright and early.

And on hand they were. At ten o’clock both stepped out on the dock and walked slowly up the narrow and dirty street.

“Humph! not much of a city,” said Gus. “See the funny houses all on stilts!”

“I suppose they build them that way to keep from getting flooded out when it rains,” laughed Oliver; “or else the sea may occasionally drive in too far.”

“I would not care to see myself living here. My, how muddy it is! I guess they haven’t much of a street-cleaning department.”

From one of the officers of the ship the boys learned that, in order to make connections with the steamer at Panama, they would have to take the train for that port on the following morning.

“That will give us a whole day in this place,” said Oliver. “Come, let us start out on a voyage of discovery.”

Gus was nothing loath, and they set out. They passed down the main street, where they discovered several fine-looking hotels,――quite in contrast with their shabby surroundings,――and then turned down another road close beside the water.

Most all of the people they met were either Spaniards, Frenchmen, or natives. But few Americans were to be seen, and this made both boys feel more strange than did all the other surroundings.

“We are in a different country, and no mistake,” said Oliver. “See what queer ways the folks have! It makes me feel like a cat in a strange garret!”

Presently they drifted into quite a crowd that lined a wharf where a large boat was discharging fruit. Anxious to see what was going on, they pressed their way to the front until a tall Spaniard with a long whip rushed out, and jabbering at all the strangers, drove them off.

“Not a very sociable fellow,” grunted Gus. “By crickety! I thought he was going to fetch me one across the legs!”

It was now getting toward noon, and both boys were hungry. Oliver was for going back to the steamer for dinner, but Gus persuaded him to enter one of the strange eating-houses kept by a native.

“I want to see what kind of stuff they furnish,” he explained.

“All right. Only you must order,” replied Oliver.

So Gus ordered dinner as best he could. While they were waiting for it to be brought both boys felt in their pockets for money to pay for it. Neither had so much as a cent!