r place. And so energetically did he
strive that at length he actually succeeded in convincing not only Mrs
Saint Leger, but also himself, that the expedition would certainly be
successful and that he would be able to bring home his brother safe and
sound.

Meanwhile, old Si Radlett was nothing if not thorough in his methods,
and, having made up his mind to engage in a speculation that, if
decidedly risky, might yet result in enormous profit to himself, allowed
no grass to grow under his feet. Every man in his yard was at once
detailed for service on and about the _Nonsuch_, the cradle was built,
and on a certain raw but brilliant morning of early March, Mrs Saint
Leger, well wrapped up in furs, was escorted by George to the shipyard
in Millbay, where she had undertaken to preside at the launch of, and
perform the ceremony of christening, the ship which was to bear one of
her sons across the tempestuous Atlantic to the rescue of the other.

The launch of a ship in those days was a much less ceremonious affair
than it is to-day, yet the piety of the time was so real, and so
intimately pervaded the affairs of daily life, that a short religious
service was deemed as necessary at the christening of a ship as at that
of a child; and accordingly a small platform was erected under the bows
of the _Nonsuch_, where, with Mrs Saint Leger beside him, the vicar of
the church in which old Radlett worshipped every Sunday morning, read
certain passages of scripture, preached a short sermon, and then offered
up special prayers beseeching God's blessing upon the ship. After this
the spur-shores were knocked away, and to the blare of trumpets and the
roll of drums, Mrs Saint Leger dashed a bottle of wine against the
great cutwater of the gaily bedizened ship as she began to move down the
ways, exclaiming, as she did so:

"God bless the good ship _Nonsuch_ and all who are to sail in her!" And
she said it not perfunctorily, but from her heart; for the lives and
fortunes of the two who were nearest and dearest to her in the whole
world were irrevocably bound up with the ship.

George did not occupy the platform beside his mother. As soon as he had
seen her safely placed, he made his way to a point in the yard from
which he could advantageously view the plunge of the ship into "her
native element," and his heart thrilled with joy and pride as he noted
with a keen, appreciative, and understanding eye the manner in which the
hull took