"Now, good friends, I think we all need a rest, which the commander instructed me to give you at a convenient place in my remarks."
The professor retired from the rostrum, and the company scattered over the ship.
Captain Ringgold permitted the day, which was only the second of the voyage, to pass away until half past three o'clock in the afternoon without again calling the conference together. The passengers appeared to be well occupied; for the boys had brought shuffle-board and the potato game on the planks, and everybody was enjoying these plays, either by taking part or looking on. The commander had taught them these amusements early in their sea experience, and they always became very hilarious over them.
Besides, he was prudent and judicious in the conduct of the study department; for the adults were not in training as students, and he was somewhat afraid of overworking them, and creating a dislike for the conferences. As he expressed it, he desired to make them hungry for lectures. The schoolroom, which had been made of the after cabin, and contained the extensive library of the ship, had been deserted for several weeks so far as its regular use was concerned.
Miss Blanche, Louis, Morris, and Scott formed a class, or rather several of them, and pursued their studies systematically under the professor; but they had been interrupted by the visit to Egypt and the trip to Cyprus, and their work was not resumed till the ship sailed from Suez. The recitations and the study were not confined to the classroom, but some of them were given on deck and in the cabin to individuals as the convenience of both permitted; and some of the hours of the first two days had been used in this manner.
"Now you can see Yembo," said the commander at half-past three in the afternoon, as he pointed out a town on the shore of Arabia. "The name is spelled in so many different ways it is hard to find it in the books. Sometimes it is Yembo, Yanba, and Yembu, and again it is Zembo, Zambu, and Zanba. It is Yembo on my charts, and for that reason I use it. It is of not much importance except as the port of Medina, the later home of Mohammed, where the professor will take you at the next conference this afternoon.