A Fantasy of Mediterranean Travel | Page 9

a spread umbrella, one by one, to a place of safety, I
being the very last man to leave the Alley and even then with
reluctance. But mind you, I never took my eyes off the floor! they were
glued to it all the while this transfer was being made. (Although when I
afterward mentioned this circumstance, some lady slung the javelin into
me from ambush by saying sarcastically--"Oh, yes indeed! 'glued to the
floor' the way the average man's eyes are riveted to the sidewalk when
he passes the Flatiron Building on a windy day!") But I was determined
to make it a wholesale sacrifice, and I did it! This Spartan performance
was generously rewarded, for I was added instanter to the Cork's "Hall
of Fame" as the "Hero of the Deluge."
All our things were taken down to the furnace room and dried in a short
time, and the Alley quickly regained its dignity and composure. I had to
repair the damages to my room, but soon got it in perfect running order
again; with added improvements it became a veritable Bohemian dream
and I would not have left it for worlds. I could lie on my bed and get a
drink of water without rising, reach for a cigar, sew on a missing button,
open my treasury vaults to see how the funds were holding out, and
when dressing could sit down on my only seat, a ten-cent camp stool,
and take a short smoke while Steward Griffiths was filling my bath tub.
But I was far from civilization, as the first-cabin baths were up two
deck flights, then down one and back through a passage underneath
where you started from; the round trip was a ten minutes' walk. I
consoled myself with the reflection that it was needed exercise and in
the best interests of hygiene.
The delights of Funchal exhausted, we were off again for a visit to
Spain, landing after a short run at Cadiz.

SPAIN
CADIZ

There is not much to see in Cadiz but its Cathedral and the busy life of
its people, who number 70,000. It is thoroughly calcimined in
chromatic tints and looks fine as you approach it from the sea, but your
enthusiasm wanes somewhat when you get into the picture and see that
there are many places where the gilt has been knocked off the
gingerbread and has not been put back again. But we must all take off
our hats to the "old town," for it was there, indisputably, that Columbus
rigged up and started for America. If he had only known what he was
about and the people had understood all that was to happen, they would
have had a brass band on the pier and have set off plenty of skyrockets
in the evening. 'Twas ever thus! The "knockers" boo-ed him from their
shores and said he was crazy, but history plants his feet on the topmost
rung of fame long after the bitter end, when short commons were with
him uncommon short.
SEVILLE
The "Corkonians" took the train for Seville, and it was a corker in
length for it took three engines and all the first-class carriages in
Andalusia to carry us to our destination.
The management had about a carload of plaited straw lunch baskets and
filled them with good things, so we had a continuous picnic en route.
When we arrived we found almost every carriage in this city of 150,000
people lined up in a big square for the distribution of the party, as the
principle of procedure was, first come first served. There was a motion
picture for you that lasted twenty minutes, but there was a place for
every man and every man had his place, so we were all comparatively
happy and started in to "do" the town.
Seville has one of the largest, finest and richest Gothic Cathedrals in
existence; it has absolutely everything that can in reason be demanded
of a cathedral, with or without price, including in part a full line of old
masters, headed by Murillo and Velasquez (who were born here); bones
of the good dead ones--and some bad ones--silver gilt organs, a court of
orange trees in full bloom, the Columbian library (established by
Fernando, Columbus' son), containing nothing but books, books, books!
Then again there are acres--I was going to say--of stained glass

windows, but perhaps I had better stick to the simple truth and say
innumerable windows, showing every variation of the rainbow in their
brilliant, deftly interwoven tints. Once more we find jewels of great
price, solid silver trophies (which before the slump in silver would have
placed any honest man above the corrosion of carking care); and
wood-carving by masters of the trade whose artistic feeling was
graphically described