72 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



to delay a single second means a terrible catastrophe, 

 for every one aloft and on deck is relying absolutely 

 on his judgment. 



4 Belay 1 ' * Ease away ! ' 



Some order comes in an instant ; the boatswain's 

 mates repeat the order in a particular call which this 

 life -and -death necessity soon teaches every one to 

 understand, their shrill whistles rising above the din 

 of tramping feet and running ropes, or the thundering 

 crash of the great sails in the wind. Death has been 

 averted, or perhaps not ; if the latter, you look up and 

 see some unfortunate man turning head over heels in 

 the air. Your heart stands still. Will he catch hold 

 of something, even if only to break the fall, or will 

 he be smashed to pieces on the deck or across a gun? 

 It is a mere toss-up. If he is killed outright it generally 

 stops the drill for the day. If he is only very seriously 

 injured it will go on ; for this, too, is part of the lesson 

 to be learned, that in peace, as in war, you must take 

 your chance." 



Captain Gambier also relates a good story of the sea 

 illustrating the Oriental's remarkable trust in Kismet. 

 He says : " After a flying visit to Cyprus, where we 

 remained longer later on, we once more found our- 

 selves in Beyrut. Here we came in for a very serious 

 gale, in which the Malacca was nearly lost. The 

 anchorage is very exposed from north-west to south- 

 west, and a dangerous sea sweeps into the bay with 

 westerly winds. We were moored in St. George's Bay, 

 named after a native of Beyrut, that fraudulent Army 

 contractor whom England ominously honours as her 

 patron saint. Our anchors would not hold ; the engine 

 broke down at the critical moment, and as there was no 



