[Illustration: Captain Slocum, Sir Alfred Milner (with the tall hat),
and Colonel Saunderson, M. P., on the bow of the _Spray_ at Cape
Town.]
A pleasant visit from Admiral Sir Harry Rawson of the Royal Navy and
his family brought to an end the _Spray's_ social relations with the
Cape of Good Hope. The admiral, then commanding the South African
Squadron, and now in command of the great Channel fleet, evinced the
greatest interest in the diminutive _Spray_ and her behavior off Cape
Horn, where he was not an entire stranger. I have to admit that I was
delighted with the trend of Admiral Rawson's questions, and that I
profited by some of his suggestions, notwithstanding the wide
difference in our respective commands.
On March 26, 1898, the _Spray_ sailed from South Africa, the land of
distances and pure air, where she had spent a pleasant and profitable
time. The steam-tug _Tigre_ towed her to sea from her wonted berth at
the Alfred Docks, giving her a good offing. The light morning breeze,
which scantily filled her sails when the tug let go the tow-line, soon
died away altogether, and left her riding over a heavy swell, in full
view of Table Mountain and the high peaks of the Cape of Good Hope.
For a while the grand scenery served to relieve the monotony. One of
the old circumnavigators (Sir Francis Drake, I think), when he first
saw this magnificent pile, sang, "'T is the fairest thing and the
grandest cape I've seen in the whole circumference of the earth.
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