THE RED SEA. 41 



without a stretch or a yawn in your whole anat- 

 omy. Then is the one time of day for a display of 

 energy if you have any to display. Ship games, 

 walks fairly brisk explorations to the fore- 

 castle, a watch for flying fish or Arab dhows, 

 anything until tea-time. Then the glowing sun- 

 set ; the opalescent sea, and the soft afterglow 

 of the sky and the bugle summoning you to dress. 

 That is a mean job. Nothing could possibly 

 swelter worse than the tiny cabin. The electric 

 fan is an aggravation. You reappear in your 

 fresh " whites " somewhat warm and flustered 

 in both mind and body. A turn around the 

 deck cools you off ; and dinner restores your 

 equanimity dinner with the soft, warm tropic 

 air breathing through all the wide-open ports ; 

 the electric fans drumming busily ; the men all in 

 clean white ; the ladies, the very few precious 

 ladies, in soft, low gowns. After dinner the 

 deck, as near cool as it will be, and heads bare to 

 the breeze of our progress, and glowing cigars. 

 At ten or eleven o'clock the groups begin to 

 break up, the canvas chairs to empty. Soon 

 reappears a pyjamaed figure followed by a stew- 

 ard carrying a mattress. This is spread, under 

 its owner's direction, in a dark corner forward. 

 With a sigh you in your turn plunge down into 



