Part 12 (1/2)

'It's not a mistake,' said Davies, half to himself 'But _did_ he send her? He'd have sent one of his ht

'What do you ot to Ha sailed back now, and passing here--'

'Oh, I see! It's a private supple nairl sail back alone with the crew?'

'She's used to the sea--and perhaps she isn't alone There was that stepmother--But it doesn't make a ha'porth of difference to our plans: we'll start on the ebb to-ht, reckoning stores, tidying lockers, and securing movables 'We h ere castaways on a raft 'It's a wretched thing to have to land somewhere to buy oil,' was a favourite observation of his

Before getting to sleep I was ation, now that the tideless Baltic was left behind us A strong current was sluicing past our sides, and at the eleventh hour I was turned out, clad in pyjamas and oilskins (a horrible coe or spare anchor

'What's kedging-off?' I asked, ere tucked up again 'Oh, it's when you run aground; you have to--but you'll soon learn all about it' I steeled ht o'clock on 5th October, standing down the river towards the field of our first labours It is fifteen miles to the mouth; drab, dreary miles like the dullest reaches of the lower Thames; but scenery was of no concern to us, and a south-westerly breeze blowing out of a grey sky kept us constantly on the verge of reefing The tide as it gathered strength swept us doith a force attested by the speed hich buoys ca in its eddy of dirty foam I scarcely noticed at first--so calular were the buoys, likea road--that the northern line of coast was rapidly receding and that the 'river' was co a vast estuary, three--seven--ten ed in open sea

'Why, we're at sea!' I suddenly exclai!'

'Just discovered that?' said Davies, laughing

'You said it was fifteen miles,' I complained

'So it is, till we reach this coast at Cuxhaven; but I suppose you may say we're at sea; of course that's all sand over there to starboard Look! so already'

He pointed into the north Looking more attentively I noticed that outside the line of buoys patches of the surface heaved and worked; in one or two places streaks and circles of white were for; in the midst of one such circle a sleekwhale I saw that an old spell was enthralling Davies as his eye travelled away to the blank horizon He scanned it all with a critical eagerness, too, as one who looks for a newof his zest was co thrill that had seized hbour; but our severance with it ca canvas aiding it, ere soon off Cuxhaven, which crouched so low behind its hty dyke, that of some of its houses only the chimneys were visible Then, a mile or so on, the shore sharpened to a point like a clahere the innocent dyke beca over; then of a sudden it ceased, retreating into the far south in a diroins and dunes

We spun out into the open and leant heavily over to the now unobstructed wind The yacht rose and sank to a little swell, but my first impression was one of wonder at the calmness of the sea, for the wind blew fresh and free from horizon to horizon

'Why, it's all sand _there_ now, and we're under the lee of it,' said Davies, with an enthusiastic sweep of his hand over the sea on our left, or port, hand 'That's our hunting ground'

'What are we going to do?' I inquired

'Pick up Sticker's Gat,' was the reply 'It ought to be near Buoy K'

A red buoy with a huge K on it soon came into view Davies peered over to port

'Just pull up the centre-board, will you?' he relasses as you re down there'

'Never ot it now; come to the main-sheet,'

was the next reht for the troubled and discoloured expanse which covered the subht surf splashi+ng on it, was right in our path

'Stand by the lead, will you?' said Davies, politely 'I'll e the sheets, it's a dead beat in Ready about!'

The as in our teeth now, and for a crowded half-hour or tacks into the sinuous recesses of a channel which threaded the shalloard I knelt in a tangle of line, and, under the hazy i on, plied the lead furiously, bu out the depths, which lessened steadily, with a great sense of the importance of my function Davies never see with the tiller, the sheets, and the chart, in a way that iddy to look at For all our zeal we seeress