"But just where are you going, sir?"

"Why, to Ruatan, first--where I shall get my outfit, and engage some
canoe hands and a cook; and then to Truxillo, for more precise
information. I may go up the River Maugualil, or some other stream. It
will depend upon what I hear."

Diego and Lee looked at each other as much as to say, "Why wouldn't we
do? We must do something, and that at once; and here is a chance for
travel and adventure, too."

Lee even forgot his design of returning North, and said to the
gentleman:

"I am an American, sir, willing and strong, and ready for anything which
will give me an honest living and a chance to see something new; and my
friend here speaks Spanish, for it is his native tongue--and also
English well enough. If you'll take us both, there is nothing to prevent
us from going, for we have left our vessel."

The gentleman looked closely at their faces, and then answered:

"I don't see why I shouldn't try you--especially as I can't get any one
else," he added to himself. "My name is Higley, and I am a professor in
Coryale College. I have been sent out for the purpose I have told you,
and expect to be gone from here for seven or eight months, or perhaps a
year. Now, who are you?"

Lee told him their story, and the professor said, when he had finished: