BECKHAMPTON TO SOUTH AFRICA 73 



at such Sabbath-breaking. They wanted me to 

 try my luck with a great, hulking second-class 

 passenger, about 25 years old and fully 14 st. 

 in weight, who may or may not have been useful, 

 but I did not see the force of giving 25 years 

 and 3 st. to anybody, so declared my preference 

 for a bout with Dr. Dunlop. That gentleman, 

 however, retired at once to the smoking-room, 

 where I soon afterwards joined him. 



" This morning the German schoolmaster has had 

 his nose pulled by the young Irishman, and further 

 developments are promised this afternoon, as to 

 which I shall have time to write another line or 

 two. 



" January 21. 



"We have Table Mountain well in view this 

 morning, so the end of the voyage has very nearly 

 come. I must just add a line to say that my 

 young Irish friend, referred to above, faihng to 

 draw the German schoolmaster, but spoiling for a 

 turn up with some one, fell foul of a comparatively 

 harmless fellow-passenger, and they indulged in a 

 rough-and-tumble on the deck, with the result that 

 they were reported to the captain, who sent for 

 the carpenter and the irons. This had an imme- 

 diately pacifying eiiect — just as the * Monstrous 

 Crow ' had on Tweedledum and Tweedle-dee. 



