240 A Sportsman at Large 



" What's up ? " I asked a phlegmatic sailor man. 



" We've run down the blinkin' lightship, guv'nor," he 

 replied. ' There she is stuck on our bows like a blinkin' 

 'errin' on a skewer. Blyme, she'll be down in a couple of 

 shakes, as soon as we backs out of her guts ! " 



" Great heavens ! " I exclaimed. " What about her crew ? " 



" Oh, they're all right, guv'nor. They've boarded us quick 

 as a bunch of monkeys seven of 'em ; but seemin'ly they'll 

 lose all their kit and belongin's." 



" How did it happen ? " 



" Gawd knows, guv'nor. We must be five miles out of 

 our course. I never knowed the like of it afore." 



And so it turned out. Down went the Albatross as soon 

 as we had backed clear of her, causing a maelstrom, which 

 rocked the old Leinster hard and good. Our bows were 

 stove in ; but collision mats, deftly used, enabled us to limp 

 into harbour. 



The " Old Man " had been over twenty years in the service, 

 but he was " scrubbed," which seems rather hard lines, having 

 in view the baneful conditions which had brought about the 

 catastrophe. 



That is why a fog at sea always " puts the wind up " 

 me ! 



As for storms, a tough old merchant service skipper once 

 confided to me : 



" Long experience has taught me to mistrust the absolute 

 veracity of man, but when one comes to me and says, ' Cap- 

 tain, I hope we shall have a bit of a toss : I simply love rough 

 weather,' then / know he's a liar ! " 



I cordially concurred. 



Meet then our party as we landed after a short but by no 

 means sweet passage of the Pent land Firth. With me, my 

 C.O., her brother Marcus, her Aunt Elsie, her head lad (Henry 

 George), my beloved cousin Ted Jaquet, and the inevitable 

 Bedford, with Flora his wife. I had long had my eye on the 

 Orkneys as a suitable field for sporting amenities of a 

 variegated order. 



It was my luck to secure a three-months' lease of Graeme's 

 Hall, finely situated on the bay of that name, in the island 



