Many weeks now passed uneventfully. The fleet stopped at Melbourne and Sidney, the two chief places on the island continent of Australia. But at neither of these towns did the boys go ashore, as there were others to take their turns at shore leave. However, from what they heard they judged that the two cities named did not differ materially from any progressive, modern American community, so that they were not so disappointed as they would have been in strange lands among foreign-speaking peoples.
Ahead of them lay Egypt and a planned trip to the Pyramids and the Sphinx, and the wonders of Gibraltar with a side excursion into Spain. All this helped to enliven their anticipations and made them regret all the less that their liberty was curtailed at the Australian cities.
Through the Indian Ocean, across the blisteringly hot Red Sea, the fleet had made its way, and now it was on what the Jackies called the “home stretch.” One blazingly hot afternoon the long line of battleships swung into the Gulf of Suez on its way to the Mediterranean. Speed was reduced to four knots in accordance with the rules of the canal which they were approaching. The sailors fretted as the great ships crept along, seeming barely to move. On each side extended the glittering, barren desert. Occasionally a cavalcade of camel men passed. That was about all that relieved the monotony. But just the same, Ned was impressed. All about them lay a wonderful region famed in song and story.
“Herc, do you know that the Holy Land lies almost within reach of the guns of this ship?” asked Ned, as the two lads leaned over the side of the shaded forecastle drinking in a slight breeze which had sprung up at sun-down. But even the wind was more like the blast from an oven door than a cooling zephyr, after its passage over the blazing sands of the desert.
“Is that so?” inquired Herc rather listlessly.
“Yes, Palestine, Damascus and Jerusalem are all within range.”
“How about Jericho?” inquired Herc.
“I don’t know about that.”
“I’ve been told to go there so often that if it’s handy I’d like to make the trip,” grinned Herc.
“We are going to anchor at Suez.”