NATURE NEAR LONDON 



and she is aground immediately. It is nothing but 

 tacking, tacking, tacking a kind of stitching the 

 stream. 



Nor can one always choose the best day for the 

 purpose ; the exigencies of business, perhaps, will 

 not permit, and when free, the wind, which has 

 been scattering tiles and chimney-pots and snapping 

 telegraph wires in the City all the week, drops on 

 the Saturday to nothing. He must possess invin- 

 cible patience, and at the same time be always 

 ready to advance his vessel even a foot, and his 

 judgment must never fail him at the critical time. 



But the few brief hours when the circumstances 

 are favourable compensate for delays and monoto- 

 nous calms j the vessel, built on well-judged lines, 

 answers her helm and responds to his will with in- 

 stant obedience, and that sense of command is per- 

 haps the great charm of sailing. There are others 

 who find a pleasure in the yacht. When at her 

 moorings on a sunny morning she is sometimes 

 boarded by laughing girls, who have put off from 

 the lawn, and who proceed in the most sailor-like 

 fashion to overhaul the rigging and see that every- 

 thing is ship-shape. No position shows off a 

 well-poised figure to such advantage as when, in a 

 close-fitting costume, a lady's arms are held high 

 above her head to haul at a rope. 



So the river life flows by ; skiffs, and four oars, 

 152 



