The passengers seemed to be rather logy in their movements and heavy of intellect, perhaps because they had slept so well. It was cool at sea in comparison with the shore, and they had by this time become accustomed to extremely hot weather. But they waked up before the meal was finished, and all the talk was about the frolics of the last two days.
"What do you call the place where we go next, Captain Ringgold?" asked Uncle Moses. "I see it spelled in the books with a single l and with a double l. Which is correct?"
"Both," replied the commander. "If you are writing Spanish, you use one l; if you are writing English, you may use two l's, though I don't believe in doing so."
"Do the Spaniards ever double the l?"
"I will leave the professor to answer that question," replied the captain.
"They never spell Manila with two l's when they spell it correctly; for that would make another word of it,—a common noun instead of a proper, and meaning quite another thing," the professor explained.
"Perhaps I am stupid, Professor, and I know next to nothing of the Spanish language," added Uncle Moses, "but I don't quite understand you. If a Spaniard spelled the capital of the Philippine Islands with a double l it wouldn't be the capital at all?"
"It would not."
"What would it be?"
"It would be something of which Miss Blanche has a couple in her possession; and I may say the same of every lady at the table," said the professor with a cheerful smile on his face.