to come on.  When we reached the summit, we could only make out a steamer on the horizon, from eighteen to twenty miles off.  This could not be the Alabama, unless she was making off to sea again.  There was no barque.  As soon as our cab reached the crown of the hill, we set off at a breakneck pace down the hill, on past the Roundhouse, till we came near Brighton, and as we reached the corner, there lay the Alabama within fifty yards of the unfortunate Yankee.  As the Yankee came round from the south-east, and about five miles from the bay, the steamer came down upon her.  The Yankee was evidently taken by surprise.  The Alabama fired a gun, and brought her to.  When first we got sight of the Alabama, it was difficult to make out what she was doing; the barque’s head had been put about, and the Alabama lay off quite immovable, as if she were taking a sight at the “varmint!” The weather was beautifully calm and clear, and the sea was as smooth and transparent as a sheet of glass.  The barque was making her way slowly from the steamer, with every bit of her canvas spread.  The Alabama, with her steam off, appeared to be letting the barque get clear off.  What could this mean? no one understood.  It must be the Alabama.  “There,” said the spectators, “is the Confederate flag at her peak; it must be a Federal barque, too, for there are the Stars and the Stripes of the States flying at her main.”  What could the Alabama mean lying there—­

   “As idly as a painted ship
   Upon a painted ocean.”

What it meant was soon seen.  Like a cat watching and playing with a victimized mouse, Captain Semmes permitted his prize to draw off a few yards, and he then up steam again, and pounced upon her.  She first sailed round the Yankee from stem to stern, and stern to stem again.  The way that fine, saucy, rakish craft was handled was worth riding a hundred miles to see.  She went round the bark like a toy, making a complete circle, and leaving an even margin of water between herself and her prize of not more than twenty yards.  From the hill it appeared as if there were no water at all between the two vessels.  This done, she sent a boat with the prize crew off, took possession in the name of the Confederate States, and sent the barque off to sea.  The Alabama then made for the port.

We came round the Kloof to visit Captain Semmes on board.  As we came we found the heights overlooking Table Bay covered with people; the road to Green Point lined with cabs.  The windows of the villas at the bottom of the hill were all thrown up, and ladies waved their handkerchiefs, and one and all joined in the general enthusiasm; over the quarries, along the Malay burying-ground, the Gallows Hill, and the beach, there were masses of people—­nothing but a sea of heads as far as the eye could reach.  Along Strand Street and Adderley Street the roofs of all the houses from which Table Bay is overlooked, were made available as standing-places for the people