CHAPTER XVIII.
Rounding the "Cape of Storms" in olden time--A rough Christmas--The _Spray_ ties up for a three months' rest at Cape Town--A railway trip to the Transvaal--President Kruger's odd definition of the _Spray's_ voyage--His terse sayings--Distinguished guests on the _Spray_--Cocoanut fiber as a padlock--Courtesies from the admiral of the Queen's navy--Off for St.Helena--Land in sight.
The Cape of Good Hope was now the most prominent point to pass.

From Table Bay I could count on the aid of brisk trades, and then the _Spray_ would soon be at home.

On the first day out from Durban it fell calm, and I sat thinking about these things and the end of the voyage.

The distance to Table Bay, where I intended to call, was about eight hundred miles over what might prove a rough sea.

The early Portuguese navigators, endowed with patience, were more than sixty-nine years struggling to round this cape before they got as far as Algoa Bay, and there the crew mutinied.