were not to be understood in a moment, and we tried to dissuade our young
canoeist from entering hastily a new sort of boat, very easily capsized.
He had his own will, however, and his own way, because he was a Scot, and
only "English" in the sense we use that word for "British,"--too
frequently thereby giving dire offence to the blue lion of the North,
whose armorial tail is so punctiliously correct as to the precise curl
and make up of its "back hair."

"He's upset," they cried in a minute or so. But we might well let so
good a swimmer take his chance; he merely pushed the boat ashore, and
then took a pleasant swim, until he was finally captured and put into the
Rob Roy's cabin, to change his wet clothes as well as a modest man might
do behind a plaid screen and before the curious world.

Therefore in boats, as well as in business and politics, we may learn
lessons from one another, both on the water and on the land: from Canada,
as to the steering and the stroke; from France, as to the fast, quick
turning canoe in still water; and from England, as to the _man_.

It was to see this regatta and to help in it that the Rob Roy had pushed
her way to Paris; and for this six hundred miles of river navigation in a
sea-going boat were justifiable, yet often did I feel much the sea-trim
lifeboat yawl was out of place upon a calm inland water like the Seine.

Before the arrival of my little yacht, a challenge had been sent to her
to sail on the Seine against a French yacht there. To this I replied
that it would be scarcely a fair match for the Rob Roy, a sea craft, to
race on a river known only to one of the competitors; but that the yawl
would gladly sail a match with any French yacht having only one man on
board,--the course to be at sea either one hundred miles for speed, or
one week for distance, and communication not allowed with any other boat
or shore. No answer came.

CHAPTER X.

Dawn music--Cleared for action--Statistics--Blue Peter--Passing
bridges--A gale--A shave--Provisions--Toilette--An upset--Last bridge--A
peep below--Cooking inside--Preserved provisions--Soups.

The Rob Roy was very pleasant lodgings when moved down to the lovely bend
at St. Cloud. Sometimes she was made fast to a tree, and the birds sung
in my rigging, and gossamers spun webs on the masts, and leaves fell on
the deck. At other times we struck the anchor into soft green grass, and
left the boat for the day, until at night, r