fore."

"Well, it's Peninsular and Oriental, of course--there, see her colors?
Those four triangles in blue, white, yellow, and red, at her masthead.
Watch while we salute her!"

The beautiful courtesy was given and exchanged, the great steamer
passing at so close range that they could see the clustered groups upon
her immense decks, note the fluttering handkerchiefs, and hear their
cheers, in response to those from the "International," ringing faint,
yet clear, across the watery space between.

"That's the 'London,'" said the captain dropping his glass after a
long, admiring gaze, "and, by the way, the old 'London,' a fine,
staunch vessel, was wrecked in this very bay years ago."

They watched the leviathan, with its hundreds of passengers, a long
time, but at length its greater speed carried it from view in the
darkening night, and they were presently reminded, by the signal, that
it was time to dress for dinner.

The "International" would have seemed odd, in many respects, to one
used only to the trans-Atlantic steamers, for, though entirely
officered by English-speaking whites, its crew consisted largely of
Malays and Lascars, while the waiters were mostly Japanese and
Bengalese, wearing a costume compounded of their native gowns and the
white aprons of European waiters. The maids, under Mrs. Jordan, were
also East Indian women, and they were very picturesque in their saris,
or head coverings, of gay colors, with brilliant teeth gleaming out of
their swarthy faces, and eyes like beads for blackness. Even the boys
who answered bell-calls and polished the brasses and the shoes, were
from Soudan or Bombay, and the stokers down in the engine-room were
Seedees, black as the coals they kept flinging into those yawning red
mouths, which made one think of an opening into the great pit of Hades.

These Seedees are as near a salamander as a human being can be,
perhaps, and certainly they will endure heat that would soon kill a
white man. Sometimes, in those southern seas, the temperature of the
furnace-room is something unthinkable, yet they endure it; though, as
soon as their relief appears, they will fling their steaming, and
almost naked, bodies into the scuppers, to let the rush of water wash
them into coolness, once more. It was understood that the girls were
not to visit any of the lower regions of the ship, without the company
of some officer, but Mr. Malcolm was very accommodating, so, matronized
by Mrs. Va