Aralia quite to forget the beauty of a pantomime they had seen the winter
before.

They stood spell-bound, and would not have been a bit surprised if all
the deck had suddenly been crowded with fairies, with silver wands,
garlands of flowers, and wings of pearly gauze. But the only fairies were
the sailors, and every one of these looked like a very old man, because
heads and beards were white with frost and snow, and little icicles hung
round their hats.

The children dreamt of it all again that night; but lo! when they went on
deck next morning, before breakfast, to have a romp and a run with the
dogs and Flossy, everything was changed.

And what a change!

The sun was now shining brightly, with not a cloud in the blue sky.
Icebergs lay far astern; all around was a calm blue sea, with one great
whale half-asleep on its surface, wild birds more beautiful than any they
had ever seen before sailing around, and, more wonderful than anything
else, the _Valhalla_ was safe at anchor in front of a pretty island,
patched with the greens, reds, and browns of lovely flowers.

"Behold!" cried Peterkin, as he lifted Pansy up. "Behold, my child, the
land of gold and coals!"

Pansy's reply was to the point.

"Very pretty, very pretty," she said; "but, 'Fessor Pete, I wants to see
the gold--not the nasty coals."