ther little cruise about the Welsh coast, where
the Dobbses had been before? To these cautious questions, we replied by
rash and peremptory negatives; and the Brothers, thereupon, abandoned
their view of the case, and accepted ours with great resignation.

For the Scilly Islands, therefore, we now shaped our course, alternately
standing out to sea, and running in for the land, so as to get down
ultimately to the Land's End, against the wind, in a series of long
zig-zags, now in a westerly and now in an easterly direction. Our first
tack from Hartland Point was a sail of six hours out to sea. At sunset,
the little Tomtit had lost sight of land for the first time since she
was launched, and was rising and falling gently on the long swells of
the Atlantic. It was a deliciously calm, clear evening, with every
promise of the fine weather lasting. The spirits of the Brothers Dobbs,
when they found themselves at last in the blue water, rose amazingly.

"Only give us decent weather, sir," said Bob Dobbs, cheerfully smacking
the tiller of the Tomtit; "and we'll find our way to Scilly somehow, in
spite of the wind."

_How_ we found our way, remains to be seen.

III.

We were now fairly at sea, keeping a regular watch on deck at night, and
never running nearer the Cornish coast than was necessary to enable us
to compare the great headlands with the marks on our chart. Under
present circumstances, no more than three of us could sleep in the cabin
at one time--the combined powers of the snoring party were thus
weakened, and the ventilation below could be preserved in a satisfactory
state. Instead of chronicling our slow zig-zag progress to the Land's
End--which is unlikely to interest anybody not familiar with Cornish
names and nautical phrases--I will try to describe the manner in which
we passed the day on board the Tomtit, now that we were away from land
events and amusements. If there was to be any such thing as an alloy of
dulness in our cruise, this was assuredly the part of it in which Time
and the Hour were likely to run slowest through the day.

* * * * *

In the first place, let me record with just pride, that we have solved
the difficult problem of a pure republic in our modest little craft. No
man in particular among us is master--no man in particular is servant.
The man who can do at the right time, and in the best way, the thing
that is most wanted, is always the hero of th