ept our decks; all the passengers had
to remain below. I remember the ladies sitting huddled together at
night in the companion, and the ship's doctor (I think his name was
Williamson) regaling them with gruesome tales of shipwreck until the
more nervous of the listeners began to wail aloud. So bad was the
storm, that cooking was almost suspended. The menu consisted solely of
"sea-pie" a comestible apparently composed of lumps of salt-beef stuck
into slabs of very tough dough, and the result boiled in a hurried and
perfunctory manner. Two days after the cessation of the storm, the Asia
steamed into Table Bay.

The Asia, poor old tub, lies at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal, where
she foundered with all hands when engaged in the cattle-trade. Peace to
her iron bones. Most of my fellow Argonauts, long before this, must
have sunk into that sleep from which there is no earthly waking. Few,
if any of us, managed to find the Golden Fleece. Those who, like
myself, are still seeking it, are treading that downhill path which
grows steeper at every pace, and which leads to that valley, filled
with grey shadow, out of which none return. To them I hold out a hand
of greeting in the spirit. Perhaps, when the Great Cycle has been
traversed, we may meet again. Perhaps in another Argo we may voyage
from Sirius to Mazaroth, through seas of golden ether adventurers from
world to world instead of from continent to continent.

CHAPTER III

Arrival at Cape Town--Port Elizabeth--First encounter with big game
Grahamstown--Severe thunderstorm--King William's Town Natives and their
ponies--Social peculiarities--Farming--The annual trek--Camp-life
Surf-bathing--Self-sacrificing attitude of Larry O'Toole--Capture of
an ant-bear--The coast scenery--A moral shock--School Chief Toise--Rainy
seasons--Flooded rivers

It was about the middle of December when we reached Table Bay. With the
exception of the old Slave Barracks, in which the Supreme Court sits, I
do not think a single one of the present Adderley Street buildings
existed. Bree Street is more or less unchanged, but immediately to the
eastward of it modernization begins. The most interesting building to
me was the old Fruit Market, facing the Parade. I think it stood on the
present site of the Drill Hall. The variety of strange fruits there to
be found, the grotesque dresses of the Malays, and the babel of uncouth
speech exercised a fascination the memory of which has never faded.