246 THE CRUISE OF THE " CACEALOT." 



them, tbey were not allowed to go ashore, in case they 

 might not come hack, and leave us short-handed. But 

 as their relatives aud friends could visit them whenever 

 they felt inclined, the restriction did not hurt them 

 much. The next day, heing Sunday, all hands were 

 allowed liberty to go ashore by turns (except the 

 Kanakas), with strict injunctions to molest no one, hut 

 to behave as if in a big town guarded by policemen. 

 As no money could be spent, none was given, and, best 

 of all, it was impossible to procure any intoxicating liquor. 

 Our party got ashore about 9.30, but not a soul was 

 visible either on the beach or in the sun-lit paths which 

 led through the forest inland. Here and there a house, 

 with doors wide open, stood in its little cleand space, 

 silent and deserted. It was like a country without 

 inhabitants. Presently, however, a burst of melody 

 arrested us, and borne upon the scented breeze came — 

 oh, so sweetly ! — the well-remembered notes of " Holling- 

 side." Hurriedly getting behind a tree, I let myself go, 

 and had a perfectly lovely, soul-refreshing cry. Reads 

 funny, doesn't it ? Sign of weakness perhaps. But when 

 childish memories come back upon one torrent-like in 

 the swell of a hymn or the scent of the hawthorn, it 

 seems to me that the flood-gates open without you 

 having anything to do with it. When I was a little 

 chap in the Lock Chapel choir, before the evil daj-s 

 came, that tune was my favourite ; and when I heard 

 it suddenly come welling up out of the depths of the 

 forest, my heart just stood still for a moment, and then 

 the tears came. Queer idea, perhaps, to some people ; 

 but I do not know when I enjoyed myself so much as I 

 did just then, except when a boy of sixteen home from 

 a voyage, and strolling along the Knightsbridge Road, 

 I " happened " into the Albert Hall. I did not in the 



