cked off, and
steamed out of the basin.

Sober facts had now to be considered. There were signs of a heavy
swell outside, and something about "the lift of the great Cape
combers" came into my head. We all jostled down to tea, and made the
best of our time. There was no mistake about the swell, and a terrific
rolling soon began, which first caused unnatural merriment, and then
havoc. I escaped from the inferno below, and found a pandemonium on
deck. The limited space allotted to the troops was crammed, and at
every roll figures were propelled to and fro like high-velocity
projectiles. Shell-fire was nothing to it for danger. I got hold of
something and smoked, while darkness came on with rain, and the
horrors intensified. I bolted down the pit to get some blankets. One
glance around was enough, and having seized the blankets, up I came
again. Where to make a bed? Every yard, sheltered and unsheltered,
seemed to be carpeted with human figures. Amidships, on either side of
the ship, there was a covered gallery, running beneath the saloon deck
(a palatial empty space, with a few officers strolling about it). In
the gallery on the weather side there was not an inch of lying room,
though at every roll the water lapped softly up to and round the
prostrate, indifferent bodies. On the lee side, which was dry, they
seemed to be lying two deep. At last, on the open space of the main
deck aft, I found one narrow strip of wet, but empty space, laid my
blankets down, earnestly wishing it was the dusty veldt, and was soon
asleep. It was raining, but, like the rest, misery made me
indifferent. _Montfort_ experience ought to have reminded me that the
decks are always washed by the night watch. I was reminded of this
about 2 A.M. by an unsympathetic seaman, who was pointing the nozzle
of a hose threateningly at me. The awakened crowd was drifting away,
goodness knows where, trailing their wet blankets. I happened to be
near the ladder leading to the sacred precincts of the saloon deck.
Its clean, empty, sheltered spaces were irresistibly tempting, and I
lawlessly mounted the ladder with my bed, lay down, and went to sleep
again.

CHAPTER XIV.

CONCLUSION.

Impressions of the voyage--Sentry-go--Troopship--Limitations--
Retrospect--St. Vincent--Forecasts--The Start--The Needles--
Southampton Water--Landing--Paddington--A dream.

I am not going to describe the voyage in detail. Africa, with all it
meant, was behind us, Engla