His old schoolfellows might be looking out of the window now over the Kentish hills, but he was divided from them by the whole thickness of the great globe.

They were in the northern portion of the temperate zone; he, as he leaned out, was in the southern.

They would be looking at the hills; he was gazing at the rugged mountains.

Then, too, it was just the opposite season to theirs--summer to their winter, winter to their summer.
"It's like a big puzzle," thought Nic.

"I shan't understand it all till I've made a globe.