NORA, who had quite gained her sea legs, was up in good time next morning. She brought Elizabeth's breakfast to her, and with it such a glowing account of the delightfulness of being on deck that she too soon struggled up.
The sun was shining on foamy waves, the spray from which had reached her even in her berth, and the coast, to which they were quite near, increased in interest from moment to moment.
Their arrival at Gibraltar had been delayed for several hours by a contrary wind, but soon they sighted Africa, and could see the limits of Europe and the Dark Continent in one picture. And then the Rock loomed in sight and became the object of every gaze. Huge and stern it lay, stretching backward like a lion couchant, guarding the entrance to the Great Sea of the ancients.
How pleasant it was to think that in a few moments they would be at anchor, and have rest from that incessant tossing. Up to the heights and then down to the depths is a most trying sensation, and when the gong sounded for lunch neither Mrs. Eddis, Gertrude nor Elizabeth dare venture below. But once more the stewardess came to the rescue, and with the bread and ham she brought them they picnicked as comfortably as they could on deck.
And then, what a change! They were at last within the roadstead, with the battleships they had seen from a distance lying around, stately and strong, and the sea, no longer dark with veins and crests of foam, lay emerald green and absolutely calm.
At once the question went round, "Who is for shore?" And soon a steam-tug came alongside. It was quickly filled, and in a few moments Nora and Elizabeth found themselves ashore, with others of a party conducted by Mr. Eddis.
Their first thought was for friends at home, so they visited the telegraph office and sent off cablegrams, and bought picture postcards. Nora bought a pretty cup and saucer, too, as a memento, though Elizabeth told her she could get one very like it in England and it would probably get broken before the voyage was over.
Then they went for a drive in a quaint little carriage, through the Alameda gardens, where palms, heliotrope, plumbago and cacti throve and blossomed profusely even at that time of the year, past the Governor's palace, with its floating Union Jack, and on to Europa Point.
And all this time Elizabeth, who had expected to find Gibraltar bristling with guns, had seen only three, and they looked very like some she had seen in parks and arboretums at home. No doubt if she had spent the time ashore in visiting the galleries she would have seen a few more of a different sort. The Austrian officer who was traveling with them had not wasted his visit among shops and flower-beds, but went to inspect all that interested him as a soldier.
On their way back they passed the Dry Docks, and saw a big battleship, the Queen, shored up on all sides with timbers while undergoing repairs, and soon after that there was an outcry for tea.
But, alas! they found that the Spaniard in charge of the café they entered did not possess the gentle art of tea-making, though he called the concoction he brought them by that name. The cakes, too, like some they had already seen offered for sale in the streets, looked strange and unwholesome, but Elizabeth, made bold by hunger, chose the best on the plate, and said it tasted nicer than it looked.
After tea some went one way, some another. Nora and her friend chose to explore the Roman Catholic Cathedral, not because it had any special beauty, but because Nora had a great desire to see what it was like inside.
Images and shrines, confessional boxes with superscriptions telling what languages were spoken by the attendant father-confessors, pictures and marble fountains for "holy" water, surrounded the walls; and they did not stay long in the building.
They felt sad and oppressed in spirit as they thought of those who are under the bondage of forms and ceremonies, and seek to approach God through saints and images, instead of coming direct to the blessed Lord Jesus Himself, who said, "Come unto ME, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, hut by ME.”
Every language is known to Jesus, our great Priest, even the language of a broken heart that finds no expression but in sighs and tears. He appoints no penance to those who confess their sins to Him, but He Himself bore the penalty of them at Calvary; and to every repentant sinner He says, "Thy sins are forgiven thee," "Go and sin no more." For the word of God declares that, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
As the tug took them back to the ship in the dusk, searchlights from the Rock lit up the straits from shore to shore, while countless points of light flickered on the land and on the vessels in the roadstead, and the lights of Algeciras were seen in the distance.
One lady, who had crossed by the ferry, told the others that eight thousand Spanish troops were assembled there waiting for transmission to Melilla; for even in those days things were not quite peaceful in Northern Morocco.
During the evening there was firing from the Rock, as if to convince Elizabeth that the guns were there after all, even though she had not seen them.
Gertrude was very interested to hear all about the narrow streets and the square-built houses, and the many Spaniards and Moors and Jews and negroes and other foreigners they had met; but they had to confess that they had not caught sight of a single monkey, in spite of what the geography books at school used to say about them.
They sat for a time after dinner on the upper deck as usual, but their singing was spoiled by sounds from below, and presently they went down to watch the unloading of cargo.