SPEAKING GENERALLY 15 



1900. He had asked me to go with him on 

 a fishing cruise on the " Heloise," and I joined at 

 Cowes, from which, after staying the night at the 

 Squadron Castle, we got away next afternoon 

 and had a splendid run to the West Bay, our chief 

 amusement being the loss of box-kites, of which, 

 easily amused with such toys, he had bought up 

 a stock in Southampton. Daybreak next morn- 

 ing found us lying off Teignmouth in a dense white 

 fog, and at high water the red-bearded pilot took 

 us into the river, not without a word of protest 

 from the Scotch skipper. That was the week 

 of very low springs, and the little there was to 

 spare under her keel that night gave me a very 

 agreeable quarter of an hour with the Scotchman 

 on deck next morning, before mine host was out 

 of his cabin. Never again, he vowed with truly 

 boreal vigour, not for all Mr. Harcourt's (qualified) 

 guests, would he ever take yacht of his into such 

 a (minutely described) river. As a matter of fact, 

 not only did " Heloise " leave the river as spick 

 and span as she entered it, but she was there again 

 for a week, same skipper and all, two years later. 

 On our second afternoon, Harcourt fancied a 

 couple of hours fishing, so my boatman got some 

 mussel bait ready, and after tiffin we fared forth in 

 the yacht's gig, towed by the tug, which we hired 

 for the occasion. It was a perfect autumn after- 

 noon, with not a breath of air to stir the sea, and 



