AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



tonishingly brief period of time. There was never 

 even the suggestion of chill in this dampness. It 

 clung and enveloped like a grateful garment; and 

 seemed only to lack sweet perfume. 



At this time, by good fortune, it happened that 

 the moon came full. We had enjoyed its waxing 

 during our voyage down the Red Sea; but now it had 

 reached its greatest phase, and hung over the 

 slumbering tropic ocean like a lantern. The lazy sea 

 stirred beneath it, and the ship glided on, its lights 

 fairlysubdued by the splendour of the waters. Under 

 the awnings the ship's company lounged in lazy 

 attitudes or promenaded slowly, talking low voiced, 

 cigars glowing in the splendid dusk. Overside, in 

 the furrow of the disturbed waters, the phosphores- 

 cence flashed perpetually beneath the shadow of the 

 ship. 



The days passed by languidly and all alike. On 

 the chart outside the smoking-room door the proces- 

 sion of tiny German flags on pins marched steadily, 

 an inch at a time, toward the south. Otherwise we 

 might as well have imagined ourselves midgets 

 afloat in a pond and getting nowhere. 



Somewhere north of the equator — before Father 

 Neptune in ancient style had come aboard and 

 ducked the lot of us — we were treated to the 

 spectacle of how the German "sheep" reacts under 



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