white deck of the vessel was always kept in a state of supernatural neatness and shininess. Every coil of rope was tidied up to a hairpin, every brass plate and moulding shone with more than Dutch brilliancy; indeed, the rites of cleanliness and order were carried out to a counsel of perfection on board the “Suez;” yet even this perfection could not make her deck appear a cheerful home on such a day. The passengers, who for the most part had been on board for eight or nine days, and who now felt to the manner born, superciliously gazed at the land, or hung listlessly over the bulwarks, vainly seeking what they could devour in the way of amusement. But there was very little to amuse them either in the weather or the surroundings. Under a sad, misty sky, the horn- shaped land-locked harbour looked all one uniform tint of faded grey, except for an occasional gleam of orange or purple, like stains of iron-mould, as the heavy water moved with the tide. The wind was blowing from the land in a persistent melancholy spirit; it was not strong enough to stir up the waves to strife, but it kept up a dreary sort of strumming in the rigging ; and the few grey-green, thin-leaved trees that grew near the beach stooped and hobbled, like old crones driven before the blast, and bent nearly double with
