Part 3 (1/2)

'I'm awfully sorry!' His dismay and repentance were comical 'Why, it's just the other way; you may be all the use in the world' He beca the inward trend of a small bay towards a cleft in the low shore

'That's Ekken Sound,' said Davies; 'let's look into it,' and a h a dainty little strait, with a peep of open water at the end of it Cottages bordered either side, so with it by a rickety wooden staircase or a e Creepers and roses rioted over the walls and tiny porches For a space on one side, a rude quay, with s off it, spoke of soarden, with neglected-looking bowers and leaf-strewn tables, hinted at soled bronze and rose caes and stages, and partly from the creepers and the trees behind, where autuers were already at work Down this exquisite sea-lane we glided till it ended in a broadand co, filled into contented silence

'Ready about!' said Davies, callously 'We

'Why not anchor and stop here?' I protested; for a view of tantalizing loveliness was unfolding itself

'Oh, we've seen all there is to be seen, and we ot it' It was always torture to Davies to feel a good breeze running to waste while he was inactive at anchor or on shore

The 'shore' to hi as a useful annexe to the water--a source of necessary supplies

'Let's have lunch,' he pursued, as we resumed our way down the fiord

A vision of iced drinks, te salads, white napery, and an attentive steward ue,' said the voice of doom, 'in the starboard sofa-locker; beer under the floor in the bilge I'll see her round that buoy, if you wouldn't race, but the close air and cramped posture must have benumbed my faculties, for I opened the port-side locker, reached down, and grasped a sticky body, which turned out to be a pot of varnish

Recoiling wretchedly, I tried the opposite one, co heel of the boat and the obstructive edges of the centre-board case A loo paper, like the re, spoke of soups, curries, beefs, potted ue, re-imprisoned the odour, and explored for beer

It was true, I supposed, that bilge didn't hurt it, as I tugged at the plank on my hands and knees, but I should have myself preferred a more accessible and less hu sliarded iddiness and discourage on?' shouted Davies; 'the tin-opener's hanging up on the bulkhead; the plates and knives are in the cupboard'

I doggedly pursued my functions The plates and kniveson the weather side, and thus having a doard slant, its contents, when I slipped the latch, slid affectionately into le on to the floor

'That often happens,' I heard fro down to help' And down he ca the 'Dulcibella' to her own devices

'I think I'll go on deck,' I said 'Why in the world couldn't you lunch comfortably at Ekken and save this infernal pande totable? I'm covered with varnish and oes the beer!'

'You shouldn't have stood it on the table with this list on,' said Davies, with intense coe' (ashes to ashes, dust to dust, I thought) 'You go on deck now, and I'll finish getting ready' I regretted reat provocation

'Keep her straight on as she's going,' said Davies, as I cla the dust offthe ladder with

We had rounded a sharp bend in the fiord, and were sailing up a broad and straight reach which every h to be balriest spirit A red-roofed haht an ivied ruin, close to the water, where some contemplative cattle stood knee-deep The view ahead was a white strand which fringed both shores, and to it fell wooded slopes, interrupted here and there by low sandstone cliffs of warle with cracks of greensward

I forgot petty squalors and enjoyed things--the coy trey mainsail, and, with a soht up to me and solicitously watched me eat

Later, as the wind sank to lazy airs, he becaer topsail and jib; but I was content to doze away the afternoon, drenching brain and body in the sweet and novel foreign atlen cliff and cool white sand as they passed ever more slowly by

IV Retrospect

'WAKE up!' I rubbed my eyes and wondered where I was; stretched iven me a true bed of roses It was dusk, and the yacht was stationary in glassy water, coloured by the last after-glow A roofing of thin upper-cloud had spread over most of the sky, and a subtle smell of rain was in the air We seemed to be in the middle of the fiord, whose shores looked distant and steep in the gathering darkness Close ahead they faded away suddenly, and the sight lost itself in a grey void The stillness was absolute

'We can't get to Sonderburg to-night,' said Davies

'What's to be done then?' I asked, collecting my senses

'Oh! we'll anchor anywhere here, we're just at the mouth of the fiord; I'll tow her inshore if you'll steer in that direction' He pointed vaguely at a blur of trees and cliff Then he juhy, cast off the painter, and, after snatching at the slack of a rope, began towing the reluctant yacht by short jerks of the sculls