By 5 o’clock, having worked our way in as far as it was advisable to go, we lowered our pinnace, which, under the command of one of our lieutenants who was accompanied by a subaltern of marines, proceeded into the harbour. All eyes were eagerly fixed on the one steamer visible in the harbour, but even the most sanguine among us could see that it was not a war-ship of any description. However, we all hoped for some definite news from the British Consul as to the whereabouts of the German cruiser. But we were doomed to disappointment, for soon after dark the pinnace returned, and the Lieutenant reported that the said Consul—a rather sly Arab—denied that the German ship had been there. The Lieutenant had also interviewed the port authorities, but they could—or would—give no news, and he had examined the solitary steamer, which proved to be a British cargo-boat which had come in the day before. So we hoisted the pinnace, weighed anchor, and proceeded on our way, horribly disappointed and rather disheartened. We felt it was high time that something other than mere voyaging, however pleasant, should come our way. Two days later we sighted _H.M.S. “——,”_ and shortly after passing Perim Island we went through the “Gates of Hell” in her company. The narrow straits bearing this sulphurous nickname, and properly called the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, are situated at the end of the Red Sea and at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden. When we got clear into the gulf we sighted a steamer and our consort went in chase of it, leaving us to continue our course for Aden, which we reached at 5 o’clock. Here we had to anchor by the bows and moor our stern to a buoy, but by the time we had lowered the cutter, which was to take the wire hawser to the buoy in question, our stern had swung round and was nearly half a mile away from it, and the crew could not pull against the long length of sagging wire behind them. The picket boat was lowered as quickly as possible and took the cutter in tow, but by this time our stern had nearly drifted aground. Rapid orders were passed from the bridge to the quarter-deck, and at last we saw one of the cutter’s crew leap on to the buoy and shackle the hawser to the ring. Then the after capstan began to heave round, and slowly the wire rose out of the water and tautened. Very gradually the stern began to swing back; but it was a long, slow job, as much care was needed to prevent the hawser from parting. By 9 o’clock, however, everything was secured, the ship lay peacefully on the still waters of the harbour, and we all went down to dinner.