Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/86

56 lubber, supposed these seafaring folk must know more than I did, so I sat tight and held my tongue. It was ticklish work tacking, and as each huge wave rushed at us with apparent fury it seemed as if we must be overwhelmed. But the way a brave little boat battles against and overcomes a gale is splendid, and somehow a sort of elation rises in the blood. I love the fierceness of a gale and to feel the salt spray battering on one's face—it is old Norse blood, I am sure, for I number many old vikings, jarls, and kings of heroic days amongst my ancestors, and want to shout and sing (lucky for the other people I don't indulge in the latter!) and ride upon those beautiful white horses of the sea. We at last entered a sheltered bay, and came to anchor in smooth water at some distance from the shore.

Then Captain Thompson said, "Well, I never saw a landsman take things so coolly before; I never thought we should ever reach land again." I did not say I had thought the getting to land a doubtful thing also, but had kept it to myself. We anchored out in the bay on account of danger from the blacks, and a sailor was left in the boat. All the others took off their nether garments, got into the sea up to their armpits, and waded ashore; but they would not hear of my doing likewise, and Mack, the sailor, insisted I should get on his back, and in this undignified way I was carried ashore, in fits of laughter, nearly strangling Mack, as wet as any one else in reality, but of course pretending I was not. I was in white linen clothes and hat, and these dried up in a few minutes in the broiling sun. We at once "boiled the billy" and demolished the excellent luncheon provided by the Captain.

Then the two officers with their guns went off in one direction, with strict injunctions from