The guests of the SERAPIS exclaimed with interest; the senator
smiled. To Marshall the general enthusiasm over the thought of a
ride on a merry-go-round suggested that the friends of Mr.
Livingstone had found their own society far from satisfying.

Greatly encouraged, Livingstone continued, with enthusiasm:

"And that wireless man said," he added, "that with the launch we
can get there in half an hour. We might run down after dinner." He
turned to Marshall.

"Will you join us, Mr. Consul?" he asked, "and dine with us,
first?"

Marshall accepted with genuine pleasure. It had been many months
since he had sat at table with his own people. But he shook his
head doubtfully.

"I was wondering about Las Bocas," he explained, "if your going
there might not get you in trouble at the next port. With a yacht,
I think it is different, but Las Bocas is under quarantine"

There was a chorus of exclamations.

"It's not serious," Marshall explained. "There was bubonic plague
there, or something like it. You would be in no danger from that.
It is only that you might be held up by the regulations. Passenger
steamers can't land any one who has been there at any other port of
the