“That is why it has been selected as a good station for infantry,” said a young fellow amidst a chorus of groans.
“I tell you what it is, Tom,” said one of the captains; “I will not have you in my company if you do that again. The man who would make a bad pun and a hackneyed pun in such beautiful scenery as this, would—I don’t know what enormity he would not commit. Come late on parade, very likely.”
“Oh, no!” said Tom Strachan, for the lieutenant was no other then our old friend, “I hope I know better than to infringe on the privileges of my superior officers.”
A general grin showed that Strachan had scored there; for Fitzgerald, his captain, was noted for slipping into his place just in time to avoid reprimand, and no sooner. But he could not make any reply without fitting the cap; so he grinned too.
“Is Suakim an island?” he asked.
“Not now,” replied MacBean. “When I was last here it was, but since that Gordon has had a causeway made to the mainland. There, you can see it now,” he added, as the vessel steamed through a gap in the outer coral reef.
“I wonder whether these passages in the reef were made by cutting the coral out to build the town,” said another.
“No,” replied the doctor. “Their origin is rather curious. Sometimes, in the wet season, torrents rush down from the mountains to the sea, and the fresh water kills the polypus which makes the coral, and so stops the formation of it just there, and makes an opening. This theory is confirmed by the fact that all such passages through the reefs are immediately opposite valleys.”
“The town looks like a large fortification; I suppose the dwelling-houses are behind the walls.”
“No, those are the houses; and what look from here like loopholes are the windows. The place is worth looking over, though you won’t have much time for that, I expect, nor yet for boating amongst the curious coral caves, or looking at the queer creatures which serve for fish and haunt them, until you have chawed up the Hadendowas and got Osman Digna in a cage.”