“I wanted to see you; and that’s the reason I left the hotel, and came on board last night,” protested the culprit.
“That’s a very good story, Stout; but for your sake I am sorry it is only a story,” said the vice-principal.
“It is the truth, sir. I hope to”—
“No, no; stop!” interposed Mr. Pelham. “Don’t hope any thing, except to be a better fellow. Your story won’t hold water. I was at the gangway when you came on board, and you told me that you wanted to go to England.”
“I didn’t know what I was saying,” pleaded Bill, taken aback by this answer.
“Yes, you did: you were not as tipsy as you might have been; for, when I told you the steamer was not going to England, you called your boatman back. It is a plain case; and you can stay in the brig till the ship returns to Barcelona.”
The lies did not help the case a particle; and somehow every thing seemed to go wrong with Bill Stout, but that was because he went wrong himself.
The boats were sent on ashore for the Princes; and when they arrived all hands were called to attend the lecture in the grand saloon.
“Young gentlemen, I am glad to meet you again,” the professor began. “I have said all I need say about the geography of the peninsula. Some of you have been through Spain and Portugal, and have seen that the natural features of the two countries are about the same. The lack of industry and enterprise has had the same result in both. The people are alike in one respect, at least: each hates the other intensely. ‘Strip a Spaniard of his virtues, and you have a Portuguese,’ says the Spanish proverb; but I fancy one is as good as the other. There are plenty of minerals in the ground, plenty of excellent soil, and plenty of fish in the waters of Portugal; but none of the sources of wealth and prosperity are used as in England, France, and the United States. The principal productions are wheat, wine, olive-oil, cork, wool, and fruit. Of the forty million dollars’ worth of agricultural products, twelve are in wine, ten in grain, and seven in wool. More than two-thirds of the exports are to England.