96 EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 



for him but sheep-farming in Queensland; 

 there he spent much time and money and 

 became a first-rate rider of buck-jumpers. 

 Then he came home, married, and set about 

 farming in earnest. His last hobby has been 

 model yacht building, and having, with yachts 

 of his own building, won several prizes and 

 the silver cup for sailing his own yacht on 

 the Round Pond, Kensington Gardens, his 

 ambition grew by what it fed upon. Some time 

 ago he set about the construction of a real 

 steam launch. I know not the exact capacity, 

 but weighing, when afloat, about 30 cwt., with 

 engine and boiler complete, and capable of 

 carrying six people in the bows and six abaft the 

 funnel when well packed in at all events, easily 

 accommodating six or eight people. 



Without any practical knowledge whatever 

 beyond what he had gained in building his little 

 model yachts, he set about the job with his 

 usual enthusiasm. Basing his work on the lines 

 of the most up-to-date models, he enlarged his 

 plans geometrically to the proposed size of his 

 launch. He obtained the proper lengths of 

 teak timber, sawed them into planks for the 

 sides, and other timbers for the framework and 



