oing her work
smoothly, hardly rolling at all, but just leaping along among the
white horses, a thousand gamboling porpoises keeping her company on
all sides. She was again among her old friends the flying-fish,
interesting denizens of the sea. Shooting out of the waves like
arrows, and with outstretched wings, they sailed on the wind in
graceful curves; then falling till again they touched the crest of the
waves to wet their delicate wings and renew the flight. They made
merry the livelong day. One of the joyful sights on the ocean of a
bright day is the continual flight of these interesting fish.

One could not be lonely in a sea like this. Moreover, the reading of
delightful adventures enhanced the scene. I was now in the _Spray_ and
on the Oise in the _Arethusa_ at one and the same time. And so the
_Spray_ reeled off the miles, showing a good ran every day till April
11, which came almost before I knew it. Very early that morning I was
awakened by that rare bird, the booby, with its harsh quack, which I
recognized at once as a call to go on deck; it was as much as to say,
"Skipper, there's land in sight." I tumbled out quickly, and sure
enough, away ahead in the dim twilight, about twenty miles off, was
St. Helena.

My first impulse was to call out, "Oh, what a speck in the sea!" It is
in reality nine miles in length and two thousand eight hundred and
twenty-three feet in height. I reached for a bottle of port-wine out
of the locker, and took a long pull from it to the health of my
invisible helmsman--the pilot of the _Pinta_.

CHAPTER XIX

In the isle of Napoleon's exile--Two lectures--A guest in the
ghost-room at Plantation House--An excursion to historic
Longwood--Coffee in the husk, and a goat to shell it--The _Spray's_
ill luck with animals--A prejudice against small dogs--A rat, the
Boston spider, and the cannibal cricket--Ascension Island.

It was about noon when the _Spray_ came to anchor off Jamestown, and
"all hands" at once went ashore to pay respects to his Excellency the
governor of the island, Sir R. A. Sterndale. His Excellency, when I
landed, remarked that it was not often, nowadays, that a
circumnavigator came his way, and he cordially welcomed me, and
arranged that I should tell about the voyage, first at Garden Hall to
the people of Jamestown, and then at Plantation House--the governor's
residence, which is in the hills a mile or two back--to his Excellency
and the officers of the g