ailed during the
dessert course, when favors containing caps and bonnets were
distributed. Formality was dropped for the time. Each diner donned his
headgear and the comical appearance of the wearers drew forth many
pleasantries and much laughter.

[Illustration: THE ILLUSTRATIONS REPRESENT A SOMBER MOUNTAIN.]

The Captain, with a huge paper sun-bonnet on his head, rose to make a
few remarks.

"Silence! listen to what our old mother has to say!" cried a humorist.

Amid laughter the captain began, but the laughter quickly ceased and his
words were listened to with attention.

"Fellow voyagers," said he in conclusion, "you will find on the bulletin
board to-night some information and advice relative to your trip to
Granada. For the past ten days you have been under my charge and I have
looked after your welfare, but to-morrow you leave the vessel for two
days. I wish you a pleasant excursion and a safe return to shelter under
the care of your 'Old Mother.'"

After the applause had subsided and a response had been made by one of
the passengers, the orchestra played as a finale Liebe's "Auf
Wiedersehen."

Then we, after securing pencil and paper, hastened to join the crowd
around the bulletin board to make notes of the directions for the trip
into Spain. The notice read as follows:

"The Moltke will arrive at Gibraltar to-morrow, February
fifteenth, before daylight. Breakfast will be served at an early
hour and tenders will be alongside the steamer at seven o'clock to
take the tourists to the dock. There guides will be in waiting and
three hours will be spent in Gibraltar.

"At ten o'clock the tourists will be conveyed in the steam ferry
across the bay to the railroad station at Algeciras, from which
place the train will start for Granada. During the ferry passage a
box containing luncheon to be eaten on the train will be given to
each person.

"Dress warmly or take heavy wraps, as it is sometimes cold at
Granada at this season of the year.

"Call at the office at the news-stand on main deck for railroad
tickets and hotel assignments.

"The excursion party returning will leave Granada at four o'clock
Monday afternoon and arrive at the steamer about midnight. The
Moltke will then sail for Algiers."

"Let us go to the office at once. The giving out of tickets may require
considerable time," said my room-mate.