CHAPTER II 



VOYAGE AND ARRIVAL 



To cabin ; silence ! trouble us not. 



The Tempest. 



The vasty wilds 

 . . . are as through-fares now, for princes. 



Merchant of Venice. 



A prince should not be so loosely studied. 



2 Henry IV. 



An early message told us that the yacht was in the 

 Bay, and by ten o'clock we were aboard a fine, slim, 

 graceful craft lying in white purity against an old 

 coaling hulk in the anchorage — Beauty and the Beast 

 united. Her owner met us at the gangway, a much- 

 travelled individual and an Arctic explorer of sorts. 

 I say " of sorts " advisedly, because he had never been 

 fortunate enough to get anywhere near the " Great 

 Nail," — only just beyond the lecture line. 



Cecily, reading this part, says it sounds very off-hand 

 and superior to speak of anyone as an individual. 

 But I think, don't you, that it is a proud description ? 

 I wish people would call me an individual. I am always 

 a person, a mere person. An individual ! Why, it is 

 to be a human Juggernaut, a compeller, an organizer. 



Coaling operations completed, the yacht, with bright 

 brass fitments heliographing dazzling shafts of light 

 to the grim grey Rock, steamed slowly down the Bay. 



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