the ship must round a certain cape
across which the sportsmen could march afoot in sufficient time to
permit them a little shooting.

Now aboard ship were a dozen English, four Americans, and thirty or
forty Germans. The Americans and English looked upon that bulletin,
smiled gently, and went to order another round of lemon squashes. It was
a meek, mild, little joke enough; but surely the bulletin board was as
far as it could possibly go. Next morning, however, we observed a
half-dozen of our German friends in khaki and sun helmet, very busy with
lunch boxes, bottles of beer, rifles, and the like. They said they were
going ashore as per bulletin. We looked at each other and hied us to the
upper deck. There we found one of the boats slung overside, with our old
friend the quartermaster ostentatiously stowing kegs of water, boxes,
and the like.

"When," we inquired gently, "does the expedition start?"

"At ten o'clock," said he.

It was now within fifteen minutes of that hour.

We were at the time fully ten miles off shore, and forging ahead full
speed parallel with the coast.

We pointed out this fact to the quartermaster, but found, to our sorrow,
that the poor old man had suddenly gone deaf! We therefore refrained
from asking several other questions that had occurred to us--such as,
why the cape was not shown on the map.

"Somebody," said one of the Americans, a cowboy going out second class
on the look for new cattle country, "is a goat. It sure looks to me like
it was these yere steamboat people. They can't expect to rope nothing on
such a raw deal as this!"

To which the English assented, though in different idiom.

But now up the companion ladder struggled eight serious-minded
individuals herded by the second mate. They were armed to the teeth, and
thoroughly equipped with things I had seen in German catalogues, but in
whose existence I had never believed. A half-dozen sailors eagerly
helped them with their multitudinous effects. Not a thought gave they to
the fact that we were ten miles off the coast, that we gave no
indication of slackening speed, that it would take the rest of the day
to row ashore, that there was no cape for us to round, that if there
were--oh! all the other hundred improbabilities peculiar to the
situation. Under direction of the mate they deposited their impedimenta
beneath a tarpaulin, and took their places in solemn rows amidships
across the thwarts of the boat slung overside. T