This being Muriel’s fifth birthday, Mabelle and the doctor and the men have been arranging a surprise for her all day, and none of us were allowed to go on the port side of the deck, but after dinner we were taken to a hastily fitted-up theatre, very prettily decorated with flags and Japanese lanterns.  On a throne covered with the Union Jack, Muriel was seated, the two pugs being on footstools on either side of her to represent lions couchant.  Some of the men had blackened their faces, and gave us a really very excellent Christy Minstrel entertainment, in which undreamed-of talent came to light.  It is very odd and interesting how one is perpetually finding out something new about the men.  Some of the crew we thought the most unpromising when we started, have turned out among our best men, always ready and willing for everything, while others, who at first appeared the best, have not proved so good.  Many we knew well beforehand.  On the whole, however, we have very little cause to complain of our crew; all pull well together when they are kept up to their work and have plenty to do.

Sunday, April 22nd.—­Clouds veiled the sunrise this morning, which was a welcome relief; still it was too hot for service in the saloon, and it was therefore held on deck.  A light breeze sprang up ahead during its performance, which cooled and refreshed us immensely.  About twelve o’clock we passed another pair of ‘Brothers,’ a couple of odd-looking rocks or islands, like tables, rising straight out of the sea; there is a beacon on the northernmost one.  While we were at lunch, the breeze freshened so much that we were all glad to add some wraps to our light and airy costumes.  A little later, a summer gale was blowing ahead, making some of us feel very uncomfortable and long for the halcyon days of the past, even with the accompaniment of the inevitable heat.  Such is mankind, and womankind too for that matter, ‘never blessed but always to be blessed.’  The gale freshened, the screw was raised, the yacht pitched and rolled, and we were obliged to put her off her course and under sail before night fell.  The spray came over the decks, and there was a strong wind dead ahead.  We all felt cold and miserable, though the thermometer still registered 75 deg..  The poor monkeys and parrots looked most wretched and unhappy, and had to be packed away as speedily as possible.  Nine monkeys in an empty wine case seemed very happy and cuddled together for warmth, but the two larger and more aristocratic members of the party required a box to themselves.  The gazelle had a little tent pitched for him specially in a sheltered corner, and the birds were all stowed away and battened over in the smoking fiddle.  Dinner was rather a lame pretence, and it was not long before we all retired, and certainly no one wished to take his or her mattress on deck to-night.  It is the first night I have slept in a bed on board the yacht for many weeks, and a very disturbed night it was, for the waves ran high, and we have lately been sailing so steadily over smooth seas, that we did not know what to make of this.