It follows, then, that a voyage westward will bring a man to Cathay ?" "Assuredly.

But how will he return?
If the earth is a sphere, his course will be a descent, and on his way back he will have to climb a great steep of waters." "It is not so," said Battista vigorously.

"Though why it is not so I cannot tell.

Travelling eastward by land there is no such descent, and in this Mediterranean sea of ours one can sail as easily from Cadiz to Egypt as from Egypt to Cadiz.

There is a divine alchemy in it which I cannot fathom, but the fact stands." "Then you would reach Cathay by the west ?" "Not Cathay." The man's voice was very earnest.