the greatest of cities, a straw on the driving tide of its
life ; and this morning I was on shore, near a courthouse,
a prison, and a town ; and now, I am at sea,
in the company of nameless shadowy islands, being
swiftly borne away upon the bosom of the dark. A
star shines out on the horizon like a beacon or a ligfht-
house, larger than any star I have ever seen ; the grey
clouds drift like phantoms in the wake of the departed
sun, and each moment the constellations erow in
multitude and splendour.
Steering by instinct through the pitchy night, we
cast anchor at last, in the wake of the wrecked
Amboyna ; and the speculative salvage-man in blue
garments and naked feet comes on board to tell me
how he has fought with Chinese and Malay, been
prisoner and escaped ; how he has lived for three
and thirty years in the East, and has a wife and children
in Scotland, but finds folk at home, cold and indifferent
to one who has spent his life abroad.
I pass the night on the floor ot the launch with
nothing between my vision and the stars. The sea is
but a yard below, the roof shelters me without shutting
out the heavens. All my world for the time is about
me ; the gunner, thè sea-cunny, the engineer, and the
crews. And here on the trackless seas, the sentiment
of common humanity surpasses all lesser considerations.
The same conditions affect us all alike.
Some time in the night I wake, and my eyes are
dazzled by the lustrous moon, hung up in the firmament
above me. I sleep again, and wake to find the
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