"He called it the Pacific because he found it so calm," said George. "And he sailed clear across it. Just think of coming to an unknown sea five or six thousand miles wide, and sailing right out into it, and on and on, past islands and reefs, and sometimes long stretches with nothing in sight but sky and water, and no way to tell when you'll come to the end of it! And when you stop at an island you don't know what you'll find, or whether you'll find anything—even good drinking-water. And he didn't know whether the earth was really round, for no one had ever sailed round it before. I think that beats Columbus."
"Was he really the first one to sail round the world?" said Felix.
"Not exactly," said George. "His ship was the first that ever went round, but he didn't get round with her."
"Why not?"
"Because when they got to the Philippine Islands, which they discovered, they went ashore on one of them and had a fight with the natives, and Magellan was killed."
"I guess the Philippine Islands are pretty good ones to keep away from," said Sammy Atkinson.
"I should be willing to take my chances, if I could get there," said George. "But I suppose I never shall."
"You can't tell," said Sandy Miller, a boy who had recently come from Scotland with his parents, "what savage countries you may visit afore you die. Two years ago I didn't dream I'd ever come to America."
"Do you call ours a savage country?" said Felix, with a twinkle in his eye.
"I didn't exactly mean to," said Sandy, "and yet I think I might, when I remember how all you boys wanted to fight me the first week I was here, only because I was a stranger."