ever; and, remembering how much we have seen and learnt that
must surely better us both, let us, as we now lose sight of the dark,
grey waters, gratefully, though sadly, speak the parting word:--

FAREWELL TO CORNWALL!

POSTSCRIPT TO

RAMBLES BEYOND RAILWAYS.

THE CRUISE OF THE TOMTIT

TO

The Scilly Islands.

THE CRUISE OF THE TOMTIT.

I.

"At any other time of the year and for a shorter cruise, I should be
delighted to join you. But as I prefer dying a dry death, I must decline
accompanying you all the way to the Scilly Islands in a little pleasure
boat of thirteen tons, just at the time of the autumnal equinox. You may
meet with a gale that will blow you out of the water. You are running a
risk, in my opinion, of the most senseless kind--and, if I thought my
advice had any weight with you, I should say most earnestly, be warned
in time, and give up the trip."--_Extract from the letter of A Prudent
Friend._

"If I were only a single man, there is nothing I should like better than
to join you. But I have a wife and family, and I can't reconcile it to
my conscience to risk being drowned."--_Report from the Personal
Statement of a Married Friend._

"Don't come back bottom upwards."--_Final Valedictory Blessing of a
Facetious Friend._

* * * * *

My messmate and I, having absolutely made up our minds to go to the
Scilly Islands, received the expressions of opinion quoted above, with
the supreme composure which distinguishes all resolute men. In other
words, we held fast to our original determination, engaged the boat and
the crew, and put to sea on our appointed day, in the teeth of the wind
and of our friends' objections. But before I float the present narrative
into blue water, I have certain indispensable formalities to accomplish
which will keep me and my readers for a little while yet on dry land.
First of all, let me introduce our boat, our crew, and ourselves.

Our boat is named the Tomtit. She is cutter-rigged. Her utmost length
from stem to stern is thirty-six feet, and her greatest breadth on deck
is ten feet. As her size does not admit of bulwarks, her deck, between
the cabin-hatch and the stern, dips into a kind of well, with seats
round three sides of it, which we call the Cockpit. Here we can stand
up in rough weather without any danger of being rolled overboard;
elsewhere, the sides of the vessel do not rise more than a few inc