"How is that?"
"The Southern Cross is not over the South Pole, but about ten degrees from it. Therefore, when we are so near the equator as we are now, the Cross goes at times below the horizon. You must wait till late at night before you can see it."
They concluded to go to bed, and let the new constellation remain undisturbed where it was. As they were going still farther south, they would have abundant opportunity to see it before their return to Singapore.
The second day of their voyage they had the coast of Sumatra still in sight for a large part of the time, and the boys wished they could make a landing there and see something of the country. Among the passengers there was a gentleman who had been in Sumatra, and he kindly undertook to tell the boys something about the island and its people.
He began by asking if either of the youths could tell him what the geographies said about the island, and its extent and characteristics.
"Certainly," Frank replied. "We know that it is about one thousand miles long by two hundred and fifty wide, and has about five million inhabitants. The Dutch have a part of it in their possession, and the rest is independent; but perhaps the Dutch will have the whole of it one of these days."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because the Dutch have been at war for some time with the native government of the province called Acheen. At any rate I have read so; and I have also read that when they succeed in capturing it they will have more than three-fourths of the island under their control."
"You are quite correct, I believe," said the gentleman; "but the Acheen war may yet last a long time. The natives are brave, and the country is very unhealthy for the Dutch. Fevers have killed more than the enemy's weapons since the Dutch went there, and the conquest will be a very costly one. But we will not trouble ourselves at present about the Acheen war, as it is rarely heard of in America, or, for that matter, in Europe.