254 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



for which my best thanks are due to the two men 

 from the White House who put it all on to get 

 to the supposed wreck and life-save your humble 

 servant. Thank goodness I have not been upset 

 on the Dee yet, except once, and then the 

 derangement was only of a painful mental order. 

 It was like this. For years I had looked at the 

 Dee from many points, and always settled for 

 myself that so far as continuous navigation was 

 concerned voyaging terminated just below the 

 boat rafts. 'Cos why? There was a weir with 

 a biggish fall — at least, always there was when I 

 saw it — and never a lock. 



Take it this way. Suppose you came from 

 Chester to the Thames and became almost 

 familiar with Teddington, where was only the 

 weir we all know and no locks at all, wouldn't 

 you conclude quite to your own satisfaction that 

 the weir put a full stop to navigation downwards 

 of the stream ? I think you would. At any 

 rate, I satisfied myself at Chester, and never 

 dreamed of being wrong. Now, listen what 

 happens, and tell me whether you would not be 

 upset yourselves. Partner and self go out a- 

 double-sculling on a time schedule — so long to 

 get up to the Iron Bridge against the stream, so 

 much less to come back with it. First part of 

 the programme was carried out all right ; second 

 instalment, being entered on, seemed to hang a 

 good bit after a while. '' We're going home 

 slower than we came," says the partner. We 

 were so, but how to account for it deponent 

 knowed not. A few minutes later deponent 

 (that's me) didn't feel like accounting for any- 

 thing except the end of the world, for the pard, 

 in terror-stricken tones, came out with, "Oh, 



