Page 271 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

4 NEGLECTED ARABIA

Sinai Peninsula. I cannot put in words my emotions when my eyes
rested on Mt. Sinai itself. I read through the Pentateuch those days.
Then 1 followed St. Paul in some of his voyages on the Mediterranean
and lastly Columbus across the Atlantic.
Hut there was nothing unusual about the route 1 traveled. It win
the manner in which the journey was accomplished. I'oily-seven day*
and nights on a cargo boat! Eighty-live hundred miles living the life uf
a sailor, eating his food, counting his bells, watching his stars for uur
course, guessing his riddles and swapping yarns with him. My! how 1
loved it. My chief excitement many days was in remembering it was
the day tor “ am and heggs,” or “kippered ’erring,” or salt beef or
codfish. No member of any party of tourists was ever so personally
conducted as I, I am sure. A bench was made by the ship’s carpenter
for me to use to climb into my bunk, which was a tritie higher than
the grand beds in de luxe suites on some of the ocean liners. A strap
was attached to the ceiling which I could grasp when the ship rolled
excessively. (It was not my first experience as a strap-hanger. In fact,
it reminded me forcibly of the Halsted Street cars in Chicago.)
I was always summoned to the deck for any unusual event like arriv­
ing at Port Said in the night, or passing Malta, or when Gibraltar “hove
in sight” at tour A. M. One morning a frantic cry of “Mother!” got
me to the rail in time to see a monstrous whale right close to the ship.
No wonder 1 dreamed that night that I was at a sea-side resort and
saw* a bungalow with a front like an enormous whale and a sign over
the door, “Jonah’s Inn.”
My officers did not let anything get by me—an occasional far-off ship,
schools of porpoises, flying fish, great brown turtles—in fact, “what**
ever passeth through the paths of the sea.” You see, there was no
competition for attention. The men got their fun out of the unusual
experience of having a gullible old lady in their midst. They tried to
scare me when we were nearing the Kuria Muria Islands off the south,
ern coast of Arabia by telling me cannibals often came out from then
to get passengers ulT passing boats, assuring me 1 would lie gobbled up I
And the night we crossed Longitude 0, the 1st Officer told me to watch
out, for there would be an awful bump when East met West.
The heartiest laugh that was enjoyed at my expense, however, v**
one evening when I insisted on staying on deck in spite of a very
sea. I was in a sheltered corner and announced that nothing would ga
me to go in unless the wind changed so the spray wet me through. \
little later I was showered, and grabbing my steamer rug I scuttle
inside, saying the wind changed pretty suddenly. And then I discovered
the captain was in great glee on the bridge, where he had changed iht
ship’s course for a few minutes for my benefit. Imagine one of tlk
magnificently impressive captains on a big passenger steamer taking bn
time and attention from his millionaire patrons to make fun of the
o’ me! 1 am saying nothing against those other captains, and havu^
just completed twenty thousand and forty-five miles of sea travel >1*, -j
leaving America, 1 have met a goodly number. 1 am just saving »
are different.