"Because I mean nautical miles," laughed the commander, who was always delighted when he could get into a close conversation with this lady.
"Isn't it just the same as a mile in Von Blonk Park?"
"Not at all; the sailors call their miles knots."
"I have heard you talk about sixteen knots an hour"—
"I can't talk as fast as that, for sixteen knots an hour is about the best speed of the Guardian-Mother," interposed the captain.
"You know what I mean!" pouted the lady. "But I supposed it meant sixteen miles an hour, just as it is sixteen knots from the Park to New York."
"Which it is not; it is only sixteen statute miles, or miles established by statute, or law."
"Then will you please to tell me what a knot is?"
"It is a geographical mile. Of course you are aware that a great circle, like the equator, a meridian, or any other that goes around the biggest part of the earth, contains three hundred and sixty degrees."
"I learned all about it when I went to the academy, but I don't remember a great deal of it."