of skill and energy required to sail a
sloop of even the _Spray's_ small tonnage. I heard a man who called
himself a sailor say that "it would require three men to do what it
was claimed" that I did alone, and what I found perfectly easy to do
over and over again; and I have heard that others made similar
nonsensical remarks, adding that I would work myself to death. But
here is what the Durban paper said:

[Citation: As briefly noted yesterday, the _Spray_, with a crew of one
man, arrived at this port yesterday afternoon on her cruise round the
world. The _Spray_ made quite an auspicious entrance to Natal. Her
commander sailed his craft right up the channel past the main wharf,
and dropped his anchor near the old _Forerunner_ in the creek, before
any one had a chance to get on board. The _Spray_ was naturally an
object of great curiosity to the Point people, and her arrival was
witnessed by a large crowd. The skilful manner in which Captain Slocum
steered his craft about the vessels which were occupying the waterway
was a treat to witness.]

The _Spray_ was not sailing in among greenhorns when she came to
Natal. When she arrived off the port the pilot-ship, a fine, able
steam-tug, came out to meet her, and led the way in across the bar,
for it was blowing a smart gale and was too rough for the sloop to be
towed with, safety. The trick of going in I learned by watching the
steamer; it was simply to keep on the windward side of the channel and
take the combers end on.

[Illustration: Captain Joshua Slocum.]

I found that Durban supported two yacht-clubs, both of them full of
enterprise. I met all the members of both clubs, and sailed in the
crack yacht _Florence_ of the Royal Natal, with Captain Spradbrow and
the Right Honorable Harry Escombe, premier of the colony. The yacht's
center-board plowed furrows through the mud-banks, which, according to
Mr. Escombe, Spradbrow afterward planted with potatoes. The
_Florence_, however, won races while she tilled the skipper's land.
After our sail on the _Florence_ Mr. Escombe offered to sail the
_Spray_ round the Cape of Good Hope for me, and hinted at his famous
cribbage-board to while away the hours. Spradbrow, in retort, warned
me of it. Said he, "You would be played out of the sloop before you
could round the cape." By others it was not thought probable that the
premier of Natal would play cribbage off the Cape of Good Hope to win
even the _Spray_.

It was a matter of