The National tribune., 1902-07-03

more free, although they were made. in
every respect, as comfortable as circuE-
| stances permitted.
The Captain and his wife had the priyl-
| lege of walking the poop deck whenever
they chose, and awaited themselves of the
permission very freely; but the old fellow
made himself SO continually and unmiti-
gatedly disagreeable that Our officers per-
| force avoided IIini, and as heartily wished
to be rid Of him and his ships company as
they We're TO discontinue our acquaintance.
That afternoon we overhauled the ship
Nimrod, of American build, but trans
ferred to British owners out of compliment
to the Confederate Navy, mark Of re-
spect which we reciprocated by not taking
the liberty Of changing her place of des-
| tination. -.-sl..a
Her Captain, however, a grand-looking
old fellow, with tremendous white whis-
kers, which gave him something Of the
general look of a venerable polar bear.
came off in his gig, to return the cali Of
our boarding officer, and brought with him
dozen of fine old Otard as Il present 10
Cap.. Waddell.
1t was but a brief sojourn that the
Captain of the Nimrod made with us,
but for weeks afterwards his name was
often coupled by our officers with enthIlsl-
astic praise, and l only trust he mad a
| pleasant Renaissance of his visit to the
rebel cruiser.
| For some time afterwards nothing Of
| special interest occurred. 1t was the
same mOnotonous story of uneventful
| ocean life. The lookOuts regularly
| mounted to their perches and swept the
horizon with watchful eyes for wayfarers,
that We might lawfully bid to proceed no
farther, but none such crossed our path.
At last our reckoning showed us TO be
within i day or two's sail of Australia,
that mighty island continent of the Indian
Seas. Whcreupon we got out engine into
operation and steamed for port.
On the 18th, 80 days out from Madeira,
we sighted land, and Il few hours later we
passed through Port Philip Heads. the en-
| trance to HoDsOn's Bay. Here the pilot
| boarded us, and very much astonshcd
was that tGnctlonary when he learned the
name and character of the vessel he had
in charge, which it seemed had been re-
ported as the Ship Royal Standard, 50-odd
days out from London, but this erroneous
| impression was soon corrected by Il tele-
graph, and we steamed on up the bay at
| the rate of nine knots an hour, passing a
multitude of yachts and pleasure boats of
various descriptions, filed with an eager
multitude, all apparently delighted To see
such a ship with the Confederate flag fly
Ing, and about & O'Clock we dropped our
| anchor of Sandridge, small town about
two miles from Melbourne.
| ODR IAhh1 L.
As soon as it became generally known
in Melbourne that q Confederate cruiser
had arrived in the ofiing, Il scene of ex-
citement was inaugurated which battles
all adequate description. Crowds of peo-
pi we're rushing hither and thither, seek
in authentic information concerning the
81 niger, and ere we had been an hour at
| anchor u perfect fleet of boats was pull
ing toward us from every direction.
As yet, however, no one was permitted
to board US. 1t was still somewhat prob
lematical what sort Of a reception was in
store for us from the authorities, and that
was question that had to be answered
definitely, ere we permitted our decks to
be encountered by Il crowd of possible enc
mics under the gCise of curious friends.
There was but one solitary deviation
from this prohibitory rule respecting Wis
itors. On one of the many little sail
boat. rocking alongside was an old man,
whose anxiety to set foot on our decks
would have been painful had it not been
ludlcrous. Finding deaf ear turned to
all his entreaties, as a last resort he
climbed the spar of his little vessel and,
watching his opportunity, sprang into the
miZZen chains and scrambled on board
There was something SO laughabIy al-
Gacious in being boarded whether we
would or not, by a single individual, that
the Officer of the Deck stood gazing at the
intruder apparently somewhat at loss
whether it was his duty to surrender the
ship, or throw him overheard. The old
feilow TOOK advantage Of this momentary
hesitation to explain that he was the only
genuine Confederate in the country, which
circumstance, he insisted, entitled him to
reception on any vessel that flew his
country's flag. His logic was not firstrate,
but his GOODNESS and audacity We're admir-
able; and these prevailing in his favor he
IN in To. liz.
great satisfaction.
As soon as practicable, an officer was
dispatched on shore TO confer with the
authorities, and obtain permission for our
ship to remain and procure some necessary
repairs. He returned before midnight,