Longwood--Coffee in the husk, and a goat to shell it--The _Spray's_ ill luck with animals--A prejudice against small dogs--A rat, the Boston spider, and the cannibal cricket--Ascension Island.

CHAPTER XX

In the favoring current off Cape St. Roque, Brazil--All at sea regarding the Spanish-American war--An exchange of signals with the battle-ship _Oregon_--Off Dreyfus's prison on Devil's Island--Reappearance to the _Spray_ of the north star--The light on Trinidad--A charming introduction to Grenada--Talks to friendly auditors.

CHAPTER XXI

Clearing for home--In the calm belt--A sea covered with sargasso--The jibstay parts in a gale--Welcomed by a tornado off Fire Island--A change of plan--Arrival at Newport--End of a cruise of over forty-six thousand miles--The _Spray_ again at Fairhaven.

APPENDIX

LINES AND SAIL-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY"

Her pedigree so far as known--The lines of the _Spray_--Her self-steering qualities--Sail-plan and steering-gear--An unprecedented feat--A final word of cheer to would-be navigators.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE "Spray" Frontispiece FROM a photograph taken in Australian waters.

THE "Northern Light," CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM, BOUND FOR LIVERPOOL, 1885

CROSS-SECTION OF THE "SPRAY"

"IT'LL CRAWL"

"NO DORG NOR NO CAT"

THE DEACON'S DREAM

CAPTAIN SLOCUM'S CHRONOMETER

"GOOD EVENING, SIR"

HE ALSO SENT HIS CARD

CHART OF THE "SPRAY'S" COURSE AROUND THE WORLD--APRIL 24, 1895, TO JULY 3, 1898

THE ISLAND OF PICO

CHART OF THE "SPRAY'S" ATLANTIC VOYAGES FROM BOSTON TO GIBRALTAR, THENCE TO THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN, IN 1895, AND FINALLY HOMEWARD BOUND FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE IN 1898

THE APPARITION AT THE WHEEL

COMING TO ANCHOR AT GIBRALTAR

THE "SPRAY" AT ANCHOR OFF GIBRALTAR

CHASED BY PIRATES

I SUDDENLY REMEMBERED THAT I COULD NOT SWIM

A DOUBLE SURPRISE

AT THE SIGN OF THE COMET

A GREAT WAVE OFF THE PATAGONIAN COAST

ENTRANCE TO THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN

THE COURSE OF THE "SPRAY" THROUGH THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN

THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T SHIP WITHOUT ANOTHER "MON AND A DOOG"

A FUEGIAN GIRL

LOOKING WEST FROM FORTESCUE BAY, WHERE THE "SPRAY" WAS CHASED BY INDIANS

A BRUSH WITH FUEGIANS

A BIT OF FRIENDLY ASSISTANCE

CAPE PILLAR

THEY HOWLED LIKE A PACK OF HOUNDS

A GLIMPSE OF SANDY POINT (PUNTA ARENAS) IN THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN

"YAMMERSCHOONER!"

A CONTRAST IN LIGHTING--THE ELECTRIC LIGHTS OF THE "COLOMBIA" AND THE CANOE FIRES OF THE FORTESCUE INDIANS

RECORDS OF PASSAGES THROUGH THE STRAIT AT THE HEAD OF BORGIA BAY

SALVING WRECKAGE

THE FIRST SHOT UNCOVERED THREE FUEGIANS

THE "SPRAY" APPROACHING JUAN FERNANDEZ, ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND

THE HOUSE OF THE KING

ROBINSON CRUSOE'S CAVE

THE MAN WHO CALLED A CABRA A GOAT

MEETING WITH THE WHALE

FIRST EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES IN SAMOA

VAILIMA, THE HOME OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

THE "SPRAY'S" COURSE FROM AUSTRALIA TO SOUTH AFRICA

THE ACCIDENT AT SYDNEY

CAPTAIN SLOCUM WORKING THE "SPRAY" OUT OF THE YARROW RIVER, A PART OF MELBOURNE HARBOR

THE SHARK ON THE DECK OF THE "SPRAY"

ON BOARD AT ST. KILDA. RETRACING ON THE CHART THE COURSE OF THE "SPRAY" FROM BOSTON

THE "SPRAY" IN HER PORT DUSTER AT DEVONPORT, TASMANIA, FEBRUARY 22, 1897

"IS IT A-GOIN' TO BLOW?"

THE "SPRAY" LEAVING SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, IN THE NEW SUIT OF SAILS GIVEN BY COMMODORE FOY OF AUSTRALIA

THE "SPRAY" ASHORE FOR "BOOT-TOPPING" AT THE KEELING ISLANDS

CAPTAIN SLOCUM DRIFTING OUT TO SEA

THE "SPRAY" AT MAURITIUS

CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM

CARTOON PRINTED IN THE CAPE TOWN "OWL" OF MARCH 5, 1898, IN CONNECTION WITH AN ITEM ABOUT CAPTAIN SLOCUM'S TRIP TO PRETORIA

CAPTAIN SLOCUM, SIR ALFRED MILNER (WITH THE TALL HAT), AND COLONEL SAUNDERSON, M. P., ON THE BOW OF THE "SPRAY" AT CAPE TOWN

READING DAY AND NIGHT THE "SPRAY" PASSED BY THE "OREGON" AGAIN TIED TO THE OLD STAKE AT FAIRHAVEN

PLAN OF THE AFTER CABIN OF THE "SPRAY"

DECK-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY"

SAIL-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY"

STEERING-GEAR OF THE "SPRAY"

BODY-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY"

LINES OF THE "SPRAY"

[Illustration:]

SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD

CHAPTER I

A blue-nose ancestry with Yankee proclivities--Youthful fondness for the sea--Master of the ship _Northern Light_--Loss of the _Aquidneck_--Return home from Brazil in the canoe _Liberdade_--The gift of a "ship"--The rebuilding of the _Spray_-Conundrums in regard to finance and calking--The launching of the _Spray_.

In the fair land of Nova Scotia, a maritime province, there is a ridge called North Mountain, overlooking the Bay of Fundy on one side and the fertile Annapolis valley on the other. On the northern slope of the range grows the hardy spruce-tree, well adapted for ship-timbers, of which many vessels of all classes have been built. The people of this coast, hardy, robust, and strong, are disposed to compete in the world's commerce, and it is nothing against the master mariner if the birthplace mentioned on his certificate be Nova Scotia. I was born in a cold spot, on coldest North Mountain, on a cold February 20, though