Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/18

 voyage, but arrived at Liverpool at almost the same hour The captain says that after a sailor has been ashore a few weeks, he finds the first part of a voyage very irksome, but after that he doesn't care; he has spent six weeks beating around Cape Horn without minding it much. Frequently a bad wind will undo all that has been accomplished in weeks of hard work. But that is part of the game, and sailors usually take it philosophically But a story is told of one captain who fought two months to round Cape Horn, where the current and the wind flow in a southeasterly direction three hundred days of the year. He was finally compelled to put back to Buenos Aires for provisions. Again he struggled for two months without rounding the cape, and again he put back to Buenos Aires for provisions; but while lying in the harbor, he killed himself. Thereupon the first officer took command, and rounded the Cape without the loss of an unnecessary day, the wind and current being favorable for the first time in months.

At two o'clock one afternoon, Old Neptune came aboard the "Sonoma," the ship having crossed the equator early in the morning. Neptune was dressed in a fantastic way, and followed by a numerous train, including his wife, several policemen, a physician, a barber, etc. A recorder read a long proclamation, and the passengers took pictures. It had been rumored that all those who had not crossed the line before, and could not produce a certificate showing they had been across, would be shaved with a wooden razor, and ducked in the swimming-tank. There was a good deal