198 SOME BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



St. Croix, then, as I have said, not being under the 

 observation of these officials, we set about making 



o 



enquiries with a view to hiring one of the small tugs 

 for the day, the price of which would be so and so ; the 

 amount seemed rather heavy, but represented, I believe, 

 only the bare expenses of working the boat. The ware- 

 houses at that time were so full of war provisions that 

 no coal could be stored, which fact caused an unusually 

 high price to be asked for that article of fuel. 



Going down to the jetty on the day before our 

 proposed trip we met Captain L., who laughed and 

 shrugged his shoulders when he saw us. "You might 

 land," he said, " in a whale boat, but it's very doubtful. 

 There'll be wind to-morrow if it doesn't rain to-night, 

 but if it does rain you'll be all right, the sea will go 

 down." With this somewhat ambiguous reply we were 

 fain to be content. Then Mr. N. came along and 

 unlocked the door of his office, he laughed too, but 

 waited till he had looked at his weather-glass to shrug 

 his shoulders and shake his head. " I'll let you know 

 in the morning," he said, "if you can go, but I should 

 think it's doubtful." 



That same night there was a heavy thunderstorm, 

 lasting for several hours, accompanied by high wind 

 and rain ; this was the first storm of the kind that I 

 had seen in the Colony, for they are not so common 

 in the southern parts as they are farther north, on the 

 Karroo and in the Transvaal. This storm certainly 

 was not lacking in brilliancy, for the lightning shot 

 down, flash succeeding flash in such quick succession 

 that the town seemed for the time being to be illu- 

 minated, and the thunder, which is usually accorded a 



