Page:Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons (IA travelsinwestafr00kingrich).pdf/112

 legend of a more cheerful character than these he evidently felt was unfitted to our situation, and flippant, considering the way those coals were being wasted. Still the Benguella came not, though we sat up very late looking for her, and at last we turned in.

The next morning we were up early. There was no Benguella. The Eko was still rolling about near us waiting for her, and the Eko's passengers having had, as I heard, in vivid account some months after from Mrs. S. with many ''chei! cheis! a wretched, ratful, foodless night, the Eko'' naturally not laying herself out for water pic-nic parties. We fared well on the Janette, our guardian angel providing us with an excellent breakfast. My fellow countryman's anxiety had now passed into a dark despair. He no longer looked for the South-Wester. It was past that; but he borrowed Captain Heldt's best telescope and watched the Government steamer, which lay smoking away like a Turkish man-of-war, waiting for him. Captain Heldt tried to cheer him with more stories, lager beer, and cigars, and at last produced an auto-harp, an instrument upon which he was himself proficient and capable of playing not only the march from "Ajax," but "Der Wacht am Rhein" and "Annie Laurie." This temporarily took my fellow countryman's mind off coals, and he set about to acquire the management of the auto-harp and rapidly did so, but then he only picked out with infinite feeling and pathos "Home, Sweet Home," so it was taken from him. Then we had long accounts of the region round the Swakop river, from which the Janette had just come, and at last, about two o'clock, my fellow countryman sadly said: "Here she comes!" and there she did come, and in a short time the graceful old Benguella was duly anchored in the roads and I was taken on board by my two friends.

We none of us felt very enthusiastic, I fear. I had never been on her before, so regarded her as an utter stranger. My fellow countryman felt it was a hanging matter by now for him on shore, because of those coals, and so did not feel in such a hurry to get there. And to Captain Heldt she was a rival. But often those things which you expect least of ultimately give you the most pleasure, as the moralist would