the danger was not real; and the whole thing was to me simply a
magnificent spectacle, in which the apprehension of my shipmates
rather perplexed than unnerved me.

In half an hour more, the captain said, our margin of safety would be
passed,--drifting as we then drifted our stern would try conclusions
with the cliffs of Cephalonia. The sun was going down in a wild and
lurid sky, a few fragments of clouds still flying from the west, when,
almost as the sun touched the horizon, there came a lull; the wind
went out as it had come on, died away utterly, and as we got our bows
round for Argostoli we could hear the roar of the great waves that
broke against the cliffs, and could see in the afterglow the tall
breakers mounting up against them. In ten minutes we were going with
all the steam it was safe to carry for Argostoli, where we ran in with
the late stars coming out, and our engineers broke out into festive
exuberance of spirits as we sat down to dine together at anchor in
the tranquil waters of that magnificent port, where the Argonauts had
taken refuge long before us. Blair shook his head at my rallying him,
as he said in his broad Scotch tongue, "Ah, but no man of us expected
ever to see his wife and bairns again; that I can assure ye." We were
again indebted to private courtesy for a trip from Syra to Canea,
though the delay was long. I had made an appeal to the commander of
our man-of-war on the station to see us back to my post, but received
a curt and discourteous refusal. I am not much surprised when I
remember some of the occupants of the consulates in those days.




CHAPTER XXI