The sun was shining brightly when he awoke, and the palm-trees outside
were nodding gracefully in a warm breeze. From the court came the odor
of strange flowers, and from the window he could see the ocean
brilliantly blue, and with the sun coloring the spray that beat against
the coral reefs on the shore.

"Well, the consul can't complain of this," he said, with a laugh of
satisfaction; and pulling on a bath-robe, he stepped into the next room
to awaken Captain Travis. But the room was quite empty, and the bed
undisturbed. The consul's trunk remained just where it had been placed
near the door, and on it lay a large sheet of foolscap, with writing on
it, and addressed at the top to Albert Gordon. The handwriting was the
consul's. Albert picked it up and read it with much anxiety. It began
abruptly:--

* * * * *

"The fishermen who brought us to this forsaken spot tell me that it
rains here six months in the year, and that this is the first month. I
came here to serve my country, for which I fought and bled, but I did
not come here to die of rheumatism and pneumonia. I can serve my country
better by staying alive; and whether it rains or not, I don't like it. I
have been grossly deceived, and I am going back. Indeed, by the time you
get this, I will be on my return trip, as I intend leaving with the men
who brought us here as soon as they can get the sail up. My cousin,
Senator Rainsford, can fix it all right with the President, and can have
me recalled in proper form after I get back. But of course it would not
do for me to leave my post with no one to take my place, and no one
could be more ably fitted to do so than yourself; so I feel no