THE INDIAN OCEAN 



there was no cape for us to round, that if there 

 were — oh! all the other hundred improbabilities 

 peculiar to the situation. Under direction of the 

 mate they deposited their impedimenta beneath a 

 tarpaulin, and took their places in solemn rows 

 amidships across the thwarts of the boat slung 

 overside. The importance of the occasion sat 

 upon them heavily; they were going ashore — in 

 Africa — to Slay Wild Beasts. They looked upon 

 themselves as of bolder, sterner stuff than the rest 

 of us. 



When the procession first appeared, our cowboy's 

 face for a single instant had flamed with amazed 

 incredulity. Then a mask of expressionless stolidity 

 fell across his features, which in no line thereafter 

 varied one iota. 



"What are they going to do with them?" mur- 

 mured one of the Englishmen, at a loss. 



"I reckon," said the cowboy, ''that they look on 

 this as the easiest way to drown them all to onct. " 



Then from behind one of the other boats suddenly 

 appeared a huge German sailor with a hose. The 

 devoted imbeciles in the shore boat were drenched 

 as by a cloudburst. Back and forth and up and 

 down the heavy stream played, while every other 

 human being about the ship shrieked with joy. 

 Did the victims rise up in a body and capture that 



S3 



