While Joe and Lucy finished eating the cherries, Uncle Sam sat thinking.
"What shall I next tell them about our glorious land?" he said to himself. "Oh, now I know. I am sure they would like to hear about John Cabot and the codfish. It isn't a very long story and there is just time enough before they should go home."
The twins were quite willing to listen. They had already found that true stories were quite as interesting as make-believe ones.
As they sat on the steps in the twilight this is what they heard:
Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived in Italy. It was about the time that Columbus lived there, too. The boy's name was John Cabot. He loved the sea as Columbus did. He liked to listen to stories of strange lands.
When he grew up he was not satisfied to stay at home. He began to travel and made longer and longer journeys. After a while he went to England and made his home in that country. He did not stay there, however, for he wished to learn all he could about the world.
On one of his journeys he traveled to Arabia. He met some men there who were leading camels loaded with spices. People used a great deal of spice in their food and drink, so it was very precious to them.
John Cabot began to talk with the men. He asked them where they got all those spices. They pointed still farther to the east and explained to him that it was a long, long way off.
He thought a good deal about what the men told him. He said to himself:
"If I should go west far enough I should surely come to the east. The wise men must be right when they tell us the earth is round."