We had a tedious wait of fully twenty minutes before
the boat came back. All the most agile of the Mo-
hammedan and Hebrew passengers had gone on her
first trip, and only the halt, the maimed, the blind,
and the aged among them, with the captain, engineer,
a couple of sailors, Mr. Lyons, and myself, remained to
be taken. We were enough, however, to cram her again
to the water's edge. The mode of getting in I found
awkward. Mr. Lyons went before me, and the captain
was to come after. The descent had to be made back-
wards, down a little ladder hung over the side, with



THE "WOLF." 65

nothing to hold on by, but two loose rope-ends. This,
with the steamer rolling heavily all the time, was, to
say the least, precarious. Having got down, I had to
wait suspended so, until the rolling of the Wolf, and
the bobbing of the boat, should so accommodate them-
selves to each other as to permit me to let go. While
I stood, the captain above and Mr. Lyons below ad-
jured me to " hold fast and not let go/' until I was told ;
while all the Moors and Jews shouted and screamed
what I conclude were directions to the same effect, in
hideous unknown tongues. At last the steamer rolled
towards the boat, just as the boat bobbed up to the
steamer, and then I was told, and shouted, and screamed,
to let go, and step down. It required, I felt, consider-
able confidence in my fellow-creatures to let go, and step
out backwards, on the chance of finding a footing on
the edge of the boat, and arms ready to catch and hold
me up. But I did it, not seeing anything else possible
to do. I let go, stepped, or rather dropped back, was
caught, held up until the boat steadied for a moment,
and was then handed down, and stowed away in the
stern of the boat.
