EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 97 



keel. Having completed the shell of the boat, 

 he bought a boiler and engine, and with the 

 help of a very good friend of his, who happened 

 to be a practical engineer, the machinery was 

 properly fixed in the launch. Then he finished 

 the work by painting and varnishing and de- 

 corating. The Columbia was now complete and 

 ready for sea, or, rather, for the river. But 

 (and there is always a troublesome but] she was 

 five miles away from the river. During all these 

 long and weary but exciting months he had 

 laboured early and late as no man would have 

 worked for mere pay. Every plank in her was 

 sawn and hewn and bent, every bit of timber, 

 the fixing of every screw, nail, and rivet were 

 the work of his own hands, and not on a slip on 

 the river's bank where she could, by the touch 

 of a button, have gracefully slidden into the 

 water, but, as I have said, five miles away. Our 

 amateur yacht builder was much in the position 

 of Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday. There 

 was the boat, and yonder was the river five 

 miles away. How was she to be got there? 



At last the day came when she was to leave 

 her native home and go to her natural element. 

 The day fixed on was Wednesday, 25th May 



