the bitter disappointment of the artists, the chance of making a moving
picture was lost for ever; and indeed it was a great pity, because the
long green transport, pitching in the sea, now burying her bows in foam,
now showing the red paint of her bottom, her decks crowded with the
active brown figures of the soldiers, her halyards bright with signal
flags, was a scene well worth recording even if it had not been the
greeting given in mid-ocean to the commander of the army by the warlike
contingent which the need or convenience of the Empire had drawn from
the Antipodes.

South of the line the weather cools rapidly, and various theories are
advanced to explain the swift change. According to some, it is due to
the masses of ice at the Antarctic Pole; others contend that it is
because we are further from the land. But whatever the cause may be, the
fall in temperature produces a rise in spirits, and under greyer skies
everyone develops activity. The consequence of this is the organisation
of athletic sports. A committee is appointed. Sir Redvers Buller becomes
President. A two days' meeting is arranged, and on successive afternoons
the more energetic passengers race violently to and fro on the decks,
belabour each other with bolsters, or tumble into unforeseen troughs of
water to their huge contentment and the diversion of the rest.

Occasionally there are light gusts of controversy. It is Sunday. The
parson proposes to read the service. The captain objects. He insists on
the maintenance of naval supremacy. On board ship, 'or at any rate on
board this ship,' no one but the captain reads the service. The
minister, a worthy Irishman, abandons the dispute--not without regret.
'Any other clergyman of the Church of England,' he observes with warmth,
'would have told the captain to go to Hell.'