AT THE SUPPEK-TABLE. 295 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



LIGHTING BY GAS. 



THE sun had gone down and the twilight was far ad- 

 vanced before the gong was sounded which summoned the 

 passengers on board the steamer to supper, and when Law- 

 rence and John went below they found the supper-tables 

 lighted by a long row of candles. 



"Why don't they light the cabin with gas?" asked John, 

 as soon as they were seated at the table. " Oh ! I might 

 have known myself," he added, after a moment's reflec- 

 tion ; " they could not bring the pipes on board." 



" True," replied Lawrence, " they could not bring the 

 gas in by pipes from the mains in the city, but there are 

 other ways in which we can conceive of gas being brought 

 on board a steamer besides drawing it from the great city 

 gasometers. In the form in which it exists in these gasom- 

 eters, it is altogether too much expanded and too bulky to 

 be conveniently transported or stored, but there are two 

 modes of bringing it in a more compact form : first, by in- 

 troducing it in what may be called the original packages, 

 and, secondly, by packing it anew expressly for the pur- 

 pose." 



John did not know at all what Lawrence meant by this 

 language. He did not understand, he said, how such a sub- 

 stance as gas could be packed at all. So Lawrence ex- 

 plained to him what he meant. He did this in conversa- 

 tion which was partly held at the supper-table, and partly 

 afterward in the saloon above, when they went up after 

 the supper was concluded. The substance of the conver- 

 sation was this : 



