As they ate they talked of their future and Billy said he was getting tired of Mexico as it had too much sand, cacti and other stickly plants and not enough water and grass.
“Now, I say, we get out of it as soon as we can, but how we are going to do that is a puzzle to me, for it seems to me the further we travel south from California the hotter it gets, and I say instead of traveling south as we have been doing, that we change our course and keep to the west. In that way we will come to the Pacific coast.
“When we get there we can follow the shore until we come to some town or city where we can take an ocean steamer and be carried away anywhere. Who cares where? just so that we get away from this hot, dusty country. Besides, I am very anxious for another ocean voyage and always have been since Day and I came from Constantinople.
“My! Stubby, how I should like to see my sweet little sister and dear father and mother again. And would it not be strange if we should happen to get on a ship bound for Boston? I can tell you, if we should have such luck I would not let the grass grow under my feet until I was back on the farm again.”
“I believe you are homesick,” said Stubby.
“You’re right I am.”
“Well, I don’t blame you for I, too, would be homesick if I had ever had a home with a sister and dear parents in it, but you see I have never known what it was to have a home or any one to care for me.”
“Just see how that old volcano is smoking now, and what a bright reflection it throws on the sky above it!”
“It is due west from here. What do you say to our going to the top of it and seeing what a volcano really does look like at close range? It may be our only chance to see one for they don’t have any in the United States.”
“Say we do, and perhaps, it is so high, we can see the ocean from its top. We shall then be able to see how far we have to travel before reaching the coast.”