and some of their nearest neighbours, should proceed thither in Mavesyn's yacht, as offering the greatest facility for reaching the beautiful cove; besides the advantage of keeping so many people in each other's company. And after all the debates as to the picturesque, with which the question of a pic-nic is discussed, the arrangement most conducive to propinquity is sure to be the popular measure, and the one all-important point in the eyes of the majority composing it.

192

CHAPTER VII.

"A man speaketh to his brother, in the voice of glad congratulation,

And thinketh others happy, though he himself be

wretched;

And hand joineth hand to help in the toil of amuse

ment,

While the secret heart is vacant of all but disappointment."

M. F. TUPPER.

It was a bright, breezy morning on which the yacht-party prepared to embark on board the Mayflower, as Mavesyn's well-appointed cutter was called. The embarkation was managed

through the medium of the one bathingmachine on the Stokebree beach; and which

in default of a pier, was found an excellent substitute, the ladies walking through it, instead of wetting their shoes by the mistimed spring which is occasionally made into a boat, just as the wave curls over the steppingboard.

Among the young and merry, there were grave and mature people who walked through the bathing-machine that morning, gathered together by the love of passing some hours amidst the craggy steeps and velvet lawns of Watcombe.

The natives of a picturesque country have always this peculiarity, that they acutely appreciate the beauties of the locality; and be it in Switzerland, or in our northern lake region, or in Devonshire, one always finds

that the natives, even down to the most

uncultivated, are keenly alive to the charms of romantic scenery; and show an interest in points of view, and the different combinations which form a beautiful landscape, that would be quite incomprehensible to a denizen of the Lincolnshire swamps, or of those English pampas, the arable fields of Suffolk.

Her brilliant freight once on board, the Mayflower sprang gaily forward, under the press of sail which it was Mavesyn's wont to carry. Pleasure-seekers are rarely cowards; and though the waves showed at times a propensity to intrude by breaking in light spray over the bows, while the great weight of the mainsail kept the gunwale pretty near the water, none screamed or looked aghast, as might have been done in a passage vessel; but many smiled, and almost all said it was exciting. Lord Ebbersfield, who belonged to the R.Y.S., seemed however to differ in opinion with the

rest; and as he stood with his arms folded looking rather inquisitively at a manœuvre which hoisted a topsail, he said, with a peculiar compressure of the lips, to Mr. Hume, "I tell you what, our Mayflower swell carries on rather more freely than we of the squadron should do with women on board, unless indeed running for the challenge cup."

Colyton heard the remark; and though inclined to coincide, there was something so striking in the contour of the good-looking Ebbersfield, as he stood on the deck, and he had evinced withal so unequivocal an admiration for Miss St. Colmo, that Colyton felt his spirit rise against him, and disposed to experience pleasure in contradiction. He took the part of Mavesyn, therefore, alleging that the nautical habits acquired among the Americans gave him a decided advantage over amateurs and yachtmen.