Heavens! it was a Christmas dinner and no mistake! The tables and walls
had been decorated with little paper flags and flowers made of the
brightest colours that human fancy could devise, and dishes of almonds
and raisins filled the centre of the table. There were little flags stuck
in those dishes, and, indeed, everywhere. A big cake in the middle had
prudently been tied to the table with a string, as the rolling motion of
the ship was rather against its chances of keeping steady in the place
that had been assigned to it, and the other usual precautions had been
taken to keep the plates and glasses in their proper positions.

Our dinner-party consisted of about eight. At one moment we would be up,
with our feet on a level with our opposite companion's head; the next we
would be down, with the soles of their boots higher than our skulls.

It is always a pretty sight to see a table decorated, but when it is not
only decorated but animated as well, it is evidently prettier still. When
you see all the plates and salt-cellars moving slowly away from you, and
as slowly returning to you; when you have to chase your fork and your
knife before you can use them, the amusement is infinitely greater.

"_O gomen kudasai_"--"I beg your pardon"--said a Japanese gentleman in
rather a hurried manner, and more hurriedly still made his exit into his
cabin. Two or three others of his countrymen followed suit during the
progress of the dinner, and as number after number of the _menu_ was gone
through, so that we who remained had a capital time. Not many minutes
also elapsed without our having a regular fusillade of bottles of
champagne of some unknown brand, and "healths" were drunk of distant
friends and relatives.