ig pitcher
again went for the monk, but the latter jumped from the grating to the
piston-rod of the engine, and at every revolution of the screw he would
go down into the hold and then come up again, shaking his fist at Mark
at every ascent, and chattering like a magpie. This sight was so comical
that the big pitcher roared with laughter, and though he laid for a
chance to get even with Mr. Monk the rest the voyage the latter was
never to be caught napping, and kept himself out of danger.

Into the waters of the Arabian Sea, blue as indigo, we steamed on the
morning of February 1st, and soon after daybreak the next morning the
volcanic group of islands off the African coast were in plain sight from
the steamer's deck. Two hours later we passed the great headland of
Guardafui, on the northeast corner of Africa, a sentinel of rock that
guards the coast and that rises from the waves that are lashed to foam
about its base in solitary grandeur. The following afternoon we came in
sight of the Arabian coast, some forty miles distant, and later the
great rocky bluffs that protect Aden from the gulf winds were plainly
discernible. It was nearly supper time when we landed and we had but
barely time for a glance through the shops and bazaars, when we were
again compelled to board the steamer, which left at nine o'clock for
Suez.

The next morning the sound of a gong beaten on the steamer's deck
aroused us from our slumbers, and inquiring the wherefore we were
informed that we were approaching the straits of Bal-el-Mandeb, the
entrance to the Red Sea. This brought all of our party on deck to greet
the sunrise, and as we passed between the rockbound coast of Arabia on
the right and the Island of Perin on the left we could hear the roar of
the breakers and discern the yellow and faint light of the beacons that
were still burning on the shore. That morning at 10 o'clock we steamed
by the white walls and gleaming towers of the City of Mocha, that lay
far away on the Arabian coast, looking like some fairy city in the dim
distance. The weather as we steamed along over the surface of the Red
Sea was not as hot as we had expected to find it, and yet it was plenty
warm enough for comfort, and it was with mingled feelings of sorrow and
joy that we entered the harbor of Suez on the morning of February 7th
and drew slowly toward the little city of the same name that lay at the
end of the great canal, the building of which has tended to change