Amongst tfje 



GREAT was the exultation on board the Firefly as she lay under 

 the tall water-tower that rises with the grace of a Venetian 

 campanile above the masts in the docks of Great Grimsby, 

 when the master had sent word, 



" Mak ready, mak ready, my merry men all ; 

 Our guide ship sails the morn ! " 



Captain Try laid aside his pipe and woke up the crew's activity ; 

 Peter, the cook and steward (who was a chattel of the master's, 

 be ing, as it were, navi ascriptitius, having been rescuedby him 

 on the Atlantic, so ran the story, from a derelict laden with 

 timber), put on the blue checked shirt which, worn outside his 

 other clothes, formed his full dress while waiting at meals ; the 

 other hands holystoned the deck, scraped the masts, yellow- 

 washed the funnel, and out-vied one another in rendering the 

 yacht presentable. So it came to pass when we went on board 

 the Firefly at luncheon time (would that we were nautical 

 enough to translate this into the proper number of bells !) on 

 the last day of July, she looked as well-formed and trim as a 

 navy tender. Her beautiful lines, broken by the crimson 

 curtains of the saloon windows in the deck-house, could not 

 fail to delight all lovers of naval architecture ; steam was up, 

 and the Union Jack flying at her stern looked as impatient as 

 the men. The moment we stepped on board the burgee of 



the Vice-Commodore of the Yacht Club fluttered up to 



the main truck, and our voyage had begun. 



A sailing yacht has many advantages in the way of romance, 



