vent my going a voyage?"

"Not a bit, Jacob; if it should chance that you find it your interest to
go to the North Pole, or anywhere else, I would say go, by all means;
let neither difficulty nor danger deter you; but do not go merely from
curiosity; that I consider foolish. It's all very well for those who
come back to have the satisfaction to talk of such things, and it is but
fair that they should have it; but when you consider how many there are
who never come back at all, why, then, it's very foolish to push
yourself into needless danger and privation. You are amused with my
recollections of Arctic voyages; but just call to mind how many years of
hardship, of danger, cold, and starvation I have undergone to collect
all these anecdotes, and then judge whether it be worth any man's while
to go for the sake of mere curiosity."

I then amused Mr Turnbull with the description of the picnic party,
which lasted until we had pulled far beyond Kew Bridge. We thrust the
bow of the wherry into a bunch of sedges, and then we sat down to our
meal, surrounded by hundreds of blue dragon-flies, that flitted about as
if to inquire what we meant by intruding upon their domiciles. We
continued there chatting and amusing ourselves till it was late, and
then shoved off and pulled down with the stream. The sun had set, and
we had yet six or seven miles to return to Mr Turnbull's house, when we
perceived a slight, handsome young man in a skiff, who pulled towards
us.

"I say, my lads," said he, taking us both for watermen, "have you a mind
to earn a couple of guineas with very little trouble?"

"Oh, yes," replied Mr Turnbull, "if you can show us how. A fine chance
for you, Jacob," continued he, aside.

"Well, then, I shall want your services, perhaps, for not more than an
hour; it may be a little longer, as there is a lady in question, and we
may have to wait. All I ask is, that you pull well and do your best.
Are you agreed?"

We consented; and he requested us to follow him, and then pulled for the
shore.

"This is to be an adventure, sir," said I.

"So it seems," replied Mr Turnbull; "all the better. I'm old now, but
I'm fond of a spree."

The gentleman pulled into a little boat-house by the river's side,
belonging to one of the villas on the bank, made fast his boat, and then
stepped into ours.

"Now, we've plenty of time; just pull quietly for the present." We
continued down the river, and after we had passed Ke