"Did you get rooms on the steamer?" asked Critch.
"Wired last night. The answer will be down here at the office but there's not much doubt about getting them. See you in the library."
The boys made themselves at home in the library and in half an hour Mr. Wallace returned with the stateroom slips. Then they took a taxi and made a few purchases for the voyage. As there was nothing to be obtained except some clean linen and a steamer rug each, they spent most of the afternoon "seeing" New York City.
The evening spent at the club was a wonderful one to the boys. On talking it over later they found that they had only a confused memory of meeting several famous men and of hearing some surprising stories.
"Critch!" whispered Burt as they lay in bed. "'Member that thin fellow with the scar on his chin? S'pose his yarn was true!"
"What? About being tortured by New Guinea cannibals?" returned his chum. "Prob'ly. That sure was a whopper though that the man with the black beard told! The one that'd been in China, I mean."
"Said he had photos of the Forbidden City, didn't he?" asked Burt. "Gee! That story of his about the joss with the emerald eyes and the ropes of pearls—"
So it went until long past midnight when the boys finally fell asleep. They were up early and after breakfast took a taxi again and went on board the Carmania, which was to sail at ten.
The voyage was uneventful to Mr. Wallace but proved of tremendous novelty to the boys. By the time they reached Liverpool Burt felt like new. His color was returning fast and the sea air had filled out his lungs once more and put him into prime condition. The question of their outfit was what puzzled the boys most until they put it up to Mr. Wallace.
"Oh, we'll get all that in London," he explained. "I cabled ahead so that most of it will be ready. You see, boys, these outfitters put up boxes of food in regular amounts for each day. All I have to do is to tell 'em how long we'll be gone and how many of us there are. They pack a box—chop-boxes, they're called—holding enough for so many days. According to custom the blacks only expect to carry sixty pounds, so these boxes are made up at that weight. All are of tin, hermetically sealed. Some firms use colored bands to distinguish the boxes but ours numbers each box and furnishes us with lists of what they contain."