Perceval Gibbon was a Welsh author and journalist. He wrote for the "Rand Daily Mail" in South Africa, as well as for other publications, and was a war correspondent during World War I. He traveled extensively through Europe, America, and Africa, and his early works were influenced by his travels. He is best known for his short stories, which often contain an ironic twist. "The Second Class Passenger" is a collection of fifteen of Gibbon's stories. In the title tale, some travelers aboard a German mail boat are touring Mozambique. Phoebe buys a hideous statue as a curio. Dawson carries it for her, but leaves it in the hotel where they dined. When he returns to collect it, night has fallen, and Mozambique is a different place. A sudden rainstorm finds him soaked and seeking shelter in a house of criminals, with violence and romance erupting. What of the mail boat and Phoebe? Will he catch it?