The Cruise of the Branwen

THE OLYMPIC GAMES I hurried down the line, and met an American third, and a Dane fourth. The day closed with a crowded and enthusiastic ball in the Aktaeon Hotel at Phalerum, and on Wednesday, May 2, the prizes were given away in the great stadium by the King of Greece. I still preserve the branch of olive from the ancient Altis of Olympia in Elis which accom– panied our medals. We must have looked rather like a bridal procession as we descended the dais from the royal stand and walked down the centre of the white marble amphitheatre, which was crowded with the cheering Greeks. I had to carry the trophies of Newton Robinson and Seligman as well as my own, for they had already left Athens to be in time for the Fencing Tourna– ment in Paris, where they again worthily repre– sented England and once more helped to beat Belgium. By the kindness of the authorities our prizes had been presented much earlier than their place in the printed list had led me to expect, so we were able to pack up in comfort at the hotel and weigh anchor from Phalerum by six that evening. We had all taken formal leave of the King and Queen of Greece at a lunch given that morning by their Majesties in the Palace, and it was difficult to believe that the Olympic Games of Athens were really over. We went home by way of the Adriatic and Venice, and it was not for some time that we were able to resume our impressions of the greatest athletic gathering in which I at any rate had ever taken part. 84