the
Tiger at the bottom begins to let out his carnivorous propensities, one
gets to have an idea what breakfast means. "Let me advise you, my dear
Mr Dawson--as a friend--you'll excuse an old stager--if you have no
particular wish to starve yourself--you've had nothing yet but two cups
of tea--to help yourself, and let your neighbours do the same. You may
keep on cutting Vauxhall shavings for those three young Lloyds till
Michaelmas; pass the ham down to them, and hand me those devilled
kidneys."

"Tea? no; thank you; I took a cup yesterday, and haven't been myself
since. Waiter! don't you see this tankard's empty?"

"Consume you, Dick Phillips! I left two birds in that pie five minutes
back, and you've cleared it out!"

"Diawl, John Jones, I was a fool to look into a tankard after you!"

Every thing has an end, and so the breakfast had at last; and we
followed the ladies to the terrace to watch the sailing for the ladies'
challenge cup. By the help of a glass we could see three yachts, with
about half-a-mile between each, endeavouring to get round a small boat
with a man and a flag in it, which, as the wind was about the worst they
could have had for the purpose, seemed no easy matter. There was no
great interest in straining one's eyes after them, so I found out the
Phillipses, and having told Dawson, who was escorting Clara, that Hanmer
was looking for him to make out the list of "the eleven," I was very
sorry indeed when the sound of a gun announced that the Hon. H.
Chouser's Firefly had won the cup, and that the other two yachts might
be expected in the course of half-an-hour. Nobody waited for them, of
course. The herring boats, after a considerable deal of what I concluded
from the emphasis to be swearing in Welch, in which, however, Captain
Phillips, who was umpire, seemed to have decidedly the advantage in
variety of terms and power of voice, were pronounced "ready," and
started by gunfire accordingly. A rare start they made of it. The great
ambition of every man among them seemed to be to prevent the boats next
in the line from starting at all. It was a general fouling match, and
the jabbering was terrific. At last, the two outside boats, having the
advantage of a clear berth on one side, got away, and made a pretty race
of it, followed by such of the rest as could by degrees extricate
themselves from the melee.

But now was to come our turn. Laden with all manner of good wishes, we
hoisted a bit of dar