S64 
THE DOCTOR GETS EXCITED. 
of the crew, walked a mile or more along the boggy 
beach to the expiring fire, which had been left by the 
firemen wh3n they returned on board. There they piled 
on a fresh supply of coal, and, seating themselves around 
it, began smoking their pipes, spinning yarns, and 
making themselves as generally comfortable as the cold 
air and their wet feet would allow them to. And this 
was the state of affairs w'heu our party arrived and 
asked, — 
“Well, boys, where’s the boat?” 
“Dowm along the beach, sir!” said the guilty-feeling 
coxswain, as he jumped to his feet and started off toward 
her. “We hauled her up nicely clear of the -water before 
w^e came up, sir, and buried the anchor in the sand: she 
can’t well get away.” 
“I suppose not,” I replied, “Why didn’t you stop at 
the point, or leave half of the crew^ in her to keep her 
afloat? There is a mile or more of mud between her and 
the -w’atcr by this time.” And such really proved to be 
the case; for, W’hen we had turned a point and got her in 
view, we saw the whole fiat before us -without a sign of 
■water near it, thus finding ourselves under the necessity 
of waiting for the next tide, — three or four long, inactive 
hours to be passed in the cold air, wdth our wearied limbs 
and empty stomachs as our only companions. The idea 
of dragging the boat over a half-mile of mud and rocks 
to the point w'as of course out of the question. 
“A stupid piece of w'ork altogether,” remarked the 
doctoi', in an irritated voice: “it is singular how many 
jackasses there are in this world!” 
At this stage of the proceedings the coxswain looked 
