76 FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
the brown unpainted wood of the bulwarks and the blue 
sea above forming a back-ground. Round the deck they 
went singing 'The Old Horse/ chanting the time-honoured 
song with all solemnity, making the old horse plunge at 
times, for they had to pull it along the deck in short jerks 
to keep time to the tune. In the lee channels the sea was 
frothing white, and I thought Braidy would come off, for 
the horse grew very restive there ; but he held to its neck. 

Under the foreyard the procession halted, and a running 
bowline was dropped over the horse's head, and Braidy 
got off, and to a second mournful chant it was hauled up 
to the yard s-arm. It was a curious, quaint, and pretty 
performance 3 the solemn seriousness of the whole affair 
and the suppressed childish fun were in extreme contrast. 
For a minute the horse hung swinging against the bright 
sky, then a man lay out along the yard and drew his 
