from a bath of rain. To our uninstructed
seaman the scent seemed to exhale from the tulips; it recalled his
attention from the gannets, and he drew in deep breaths of it, pondering
the parterres of Kaiserskroon and Duchesse de Parme--bold scarlet
splashed with yellow--of golden Chrysoloras, of rosy white Cottage
Maids. Unknowing it, he had a sense of beauty, and he decided that
horticulture, for a leisured man, was well worth a trial.

"That's the best of living ashore," he told himself. "A man can choose
what hobby he will and, if he don't like it, pick up another."

He climbed the hill briskly, to view his own garden and take stock of
its possibilities. . . . The roses planted by Mrs Bosenna had scarcely
flagged at all, thanks to the night's rain. Around them and to right
and left along the border under the walls of the two first terraces,
green shoots were pushing up from the soil--sword-like spikes of iris,
red noses of peonies, green fingers of lupins. Into what flowers these
various shootlets would expand Captain Cai knew no more than Adam, first
of gardeners. He would consult some knowledgeable person--no, not Mrs
Bosenna--and label them 'as per instructions': or, stay! 'Bias Hunken
had a weakness for small wagers. Here was material for a long summer
game, more deliberate even than draughts; to buy a botanical book and
with its help back one's fancy, flower or colour. A capital game: no
doubt (thought Captain Cai) quite commonly played among landsmen
possessing gardens.

At this point he made a discovery he had missed in the dusk overnight.
His eyes fell on a flat-topped felt-covered roof, almost level with his
feet and half-hidden between two bushes (the one a myrtle, the other a
mock-orange; but he knew no such distinctions). There was yet a third
terrace, then; and on this third terrace--yes, by the Lord, a
summer-house fit for a king! Glass-fronted, with sliding sashes;
match-boarded within, fitted with racks and shelves for garden tools;
with ample room for chairs and a table at which two could sup and square
their elbows. Such a view, moreover! It swept the whole harbour. . . .

Captain Cai's first impulse was to search around for a rack whereon to
stow a telescope: his next, to run to the party-wall and hoist himself
high enough to scan his friend's garden.

Yes! 'Bias, too, had a summer-house; not precisely similar in shape,
however. Its roof was a lean-to, and its frontage narrower; bu