the smoke of the P. and O., outward bound, on which they
were destined to complete the journey. Below lay the bay, dotted with
German and Austrian ships caught on the high seas at the outbreak of
war; a destroyer was going half-speed towards the Atlantic; a cruiser
lay in dock, her funnels smoking placidly. Out towards Algeciras an
American battleship, with her peculiar steel trellis turrets, was
weighing anchor; and in the distance, across the Straits, Africa,
rugged and inhospitable, shimmered in the heat haze of an August day.

"So long." The gunner subaltern waved a weary hand from his point of
vantage, where he was inspecting life with a telescope. "There's your
barge, but she won't leave till to-morrow. If this goes on for much
longer, my nerves will give way under the strain. The excitement is
too great."

It appears that Draycott had forebodings even before he got on board
that P. and O. Since then she has become almost historic amongst those
of the Regular Army whose abode at the beginning of the war was
overseas. Save for the fact that no one was playing the harmonium, or
any other musical instrument, the appearance of her decks as they came
alongside was reminiscent of one of those delightful pleasure steamers
on which one may journey, at comparatively small cost, up and down the
Thames. A seething mob of people, almost exclusively composed of the
male sex, glared furiously at them and one another--but principally at
them--as they came up the gangway, and departed in search of the
purser. All the stairs down to the dining saloon were occupied by
morose passengers, and an enlivening altercation was in progress
between two elderly gentlemen of ferocious aspect anent the remnants of
what had once been a cushion. A mild-looking being, closely clutching
a tired deck-chair, was descending to the dining saloon, where
infuriated men were loudly thumping the tables.

"Good heavens, gentlemen! what do you want?" A haggard purser peered
at them from his office. "Berths!" He broke into a shout of maniacal
laughter, and then pulled himself together. "The fourteenth stair
leading to the engine-room is not taken, but there's an exhaust pipe
passes under it, and it becomes too hot to sit on. There is room for
two in a coal bunker which should be empty by to-night; otherwise, the
hold, if you can find room."

"But what's all the trouble," they queried peevishly. "Surely----"

"Trouble!" The purser swal