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56 Tom Sawyer Abroad
west. Think how fast we've traveled; if we had gone straight east we would be long past England by this time. You watch for noon, all of you, and we'll stand up, and when we can't cast a shadow we'll find that this Grinnage clock is coming mighty close to marking twelve. Yes, sir, I think we're in Africa; and it's just bully."
Jim was gazing down with the glass. He shook his head and says:
" Mars Tom, I reckon dey's a mistake som'er's. I hain't seen no niggers yit."
"That's nothing; they don't live in the desert. What is that, 'way off yonder? Gimme a glass."
He took a long look, and said it was like a black string stretched across the sand, but he couldn't guess what it was.
"Well," I says, "I reckon maybe you've got a chance now to find out whereabouts this balloon is, because as like as not that is one of these lines here, that's on the map, that you call meridians of longitude, and we can drop down and look at its number, and—"
" Oh, shucks, Huck Finn, I never see such a lunkhead as you. Did you s'pose there's meridians of longitude on the earth ?"
"Tom Sawyer, they're set down on the map, and you know it perfectly well, and here they are, and you can see for yourself."
" Of course they're on the map, but that's nothing; there ain't any on the ground" |
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