July 6th the Express, of Boston, bound for Antwerp, with a cargo of guano, said to be the property of the government of Peru, was captured. Captain Semmes found flaws in the certificate of neutral ownership, and the vessel was burned. July 29th the Alabama reached the coast of South Africa and anchored at Saldanha Bay, an excellent but secluded harbor about ninety miles north of Cape Town. Here the Alabama was repaired and painted and word sent to the governor of the colony that the neutrality laws would be carefully respected. The first loss of life since the beginning of the cruise occurred August 3d, when one of the engineers accidentally shot himself while returning from a hunting expedition. Three days later, finding that there were no Union cruisers about the colony, and the Agrippina not having put in an appearance, the Alabama proceeded to Cape Town. On the way she spoke the Tuscaloosa, and Lieutenant Low reported that he had captured the Santee, which ship, having a neutral cargo, he had released on bond. CHAPTER XVII. HIDE AND SEEK WITH THE VANDERBILT. The fame of the Alabama had preceded her, and her reception at the capital of the colony was an ovation. One of the Cape Town newspapers thus describes her arrival: On the 27th of July no little excitement was caused in Cape Town on the arrival of the coasting schooner Rover from Walwich Bay, with the news that the Confederate steamer Alabama had actually made her appearance about twenty-five miles off Green Point. * * * Nothing further was heard, and it was thought by some that she had proceeded on to the eastward; but on the afternoon of August 4 public excitement was again aroused on the arrival of the schooner Atlas, Capt. Boyce, from Saldanha Bay, with the intelligence that the Alabama was lying snugly at anchor in that bay repairing. * * * Captain Boyce also informed us that he had boarded the steamer and was told by her commander that it was his intention to visit both Table Bay and Simons Bay, and that he would be up almost as soon as the Atlas. This bit of news put every one on the _qui vive_, and the eagerly looked for arrival was the sole subject of talk. Tuesday passed, but the Alabama had not made her appearance yet. About noon on the following day (Wednesday) an American bark was signalled as standing into Table Bay from the southwest. Almost immediately after a bark-rigged steamer was made down as standing in from the northeast. The stoop of the Exchange and the space around the signalman's office behind the Custom House, and all other places from which the signals could be made out, were soon crowded; and when the name of the steamer was made known, the excitement passed all bounds. The news spread through Cape Town like wild fire: "The Alabama is outside the bay, in chase of an American bark!"