TWELVE THOUSAND MILES 13 



and in the very narrow parts, you look down upon 

 the roofs of houses. On the Holland side there are a 

 few windmills as there should be; otherwise, it could 

 not possibly be Holland. People shouted and waved 

 from the shores and, after dark, lights bhnked from 

 many village lamps. 



Into the EngHsh Channel again with the next port 

 Southampton. Nothing of interest until nearing the 

 Isle of Wight where the royal regatta was in progress 

 at Cowes. The ship passed right through the center 

 of things and gave us a fine view of the beautiful 

 yachts striving for glories in this field of sport. There 

 seemed to be thousands of these neat and trim craft 

 all over the place — some standing by, while others 

 with aU sails spread were speeding to goal posts and 

 back again. At Southampton I picked up the baggage 

 which had been left in bond. We had a full passenger 

 list, mostly Germans on a hoHday who had embarked 

 at Hamburg and were booked to Genoa. They were 

 a fine lot of folk, but could speak very little Eng- 

 lish, so we were indeed glad when several Britishers 

 came aboard. 



Crossing the Bay of Biscay is sometimes a rough 

 job, but this time the weather was perfect. The first 

 night out I beheld one of the most beautiful sunsets 

 which it has ever been my privilege to see. The sun 

 itself was a big ball of golden fire, resting on the 

 horizon and shooting multicolored rays of fight through 

 wonderful cloud formations. As I watched, it changed 

 colors through every hue in the spectrum. In the 

 foreground the smooth sea rippled just enough to 

 sparkle with golden tints, mixed with mauve and blue, 

 purple and green. It was truly a marvelous spectacle. 



