Algiers was sighted late in the day, then the ships dropped the shores to port and starboard and settled down to their course. The next port was to be Port Said, the beginning of the Suez canal. The hopes of the Battleship Boys were high. They were about to make their first visit to the Orient, and already they were planning on the shore leave they would have. They had forgotten their experiences during their last shore leave, as perhaps they had the admonition of the captain. They were looking forward to what was before them.
Gun drills and dotter practice were now indulged in for the greater part of the time by the gun crews, and thus far the starboard seven-inch crew held the record for quick, effective work. Every man of the seven-inch crew was looking forward to the day when the crew would be allowed to work their gun with ball and powder, shooting at a real target. There seemed no prospect of such an experience during this cruise, for it was a cruise intended principally to give the men of the fleet a chance to see the world.
After several days of leisurely steaming the low-lying shores of Egypt appeared off the starboard bow, looking golden against the blue of the waters of the Mediterranean. The captain had decided not to stop at Alexandria, but to continue on to Suez and there give his men a long shore leave, when they would have opportunity to see sights that few of the battleship's crew had ever beheld.
The fleet came to anchor off the mouth of the canal at twilight. Port Said lay in a deep shadow, with only the numerous twinkling lights to show that the chief town of the Egyptian province of the isthmus was near at hand.
Songs floated out over the water after the anchors had been let go, these sounds of gayety from the shore causing the jackies of the fleet to look longingly shoreward.
"To-morrow we'll get a leave," predicted Sam, as he and Dan were sitting on their gun turret in the soft evening air.
"Not to-morrow, Sam."
"Why not?"
"I understand no shore leave is to be granted here. We shall be entering the canal early in the morning, on our way to Suez."
"Oh, pshaw! That's a shame."