THE FOREST EXILES

CHAPTER ONE.

THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WORLD.

Boy reader, I am told that you are not tired of my company. Is this
true?

"Quite true, dear Captain,--quite true!" That is your reply. You speak
sincerely? I believe you do.

In return, believe _me_, when I tell you I am not tired of yours; and
the best proof I can give is, that I have come once more to seek you. I
have come to solicit the pleasure of your company,--not to an evening
party, nor to a ball, nor to the Grand Opera, nor to the Crystal Palace,
nor yet to the Zoological Gardens of Regent's Park,--no, but to the
great zoological garden of Nature. I have come to ask you to accompany
me on another "campaign,"--another "grand journey" through the fields of
Science and Adventure. Will you go?

"Most willingly--with you, dear Captain, anywhere."

Come with me, then.

Again we turn our faces westward; again we cross the blue and billowy
Atlantic; again we seek the shores of the noble continent of America.

"What! to America again?"

Ha! that is a large continent, and you need not fear that I am going to
take you over old ground. No, fear not that! New scenes await us; a
new _fauna_, a new _flora_,--I might almost say, a new earth and a new
sky!

You shall have variety, I promise you,--a perfect contrast to the scenes
of our last journey.