ed
Mr Sowton, dragging the midshipman, nothing loth, to the well-spread
cloth. "Now open your mouth, and Burnaby and I will try and feed you.
What will you have first,--beef, or pudding, or a peach, or a tongue, or
a cold chicken? Oh dear me, there is but a drumstick and a merrythought
left. Which will you have? No! I see I am wrong again, the drumstick
is in the dish, and the merrythought is in my head, with numerous
companions. Does anybody wish to know what they are? I'll fill my
naval friend's plate first with cold beef and mustard, and then inform
you." Thus the old gentleman ran on. He kept his word with regard to
Harry, who very soon by diligent application caught up the rest of the
party, and was able to commence on the tarts and peaches. All the
gentlemen asked him to take wine, and the ladies were eager to hear his
adventures. He briefly recounted them in an animated manner, for as he
had been little more than a year at sea, everything he had seen and done
had the freshness of novelty. He belonged to the gallant _Arethusa_
frigate, which had put into Plymouth from a successful cruise in the Bay
of Biscay, where, after capturing several minor prizes of considerable
value, she had taken an enemy's frigate of equal force. He had
consequently got leave for a few days to come home and see his widowed
mother. He was her only son; her husband had been an officer in the
army, and was killed in battle; her daughter Jane could never be induced
to leave her, but they had promised to send Harry on to the picnic after
he had indulged them with a little of his society. He had come by a
chance conveyance, knowing that he should be able to return with some of
his friends.

In those days it was the custom to sit long after dinner, and even at a
picnic people consumed a considerable amount of time round the cloth.
At length, however, they got up and broke into separate parties. Some
went in one direction, some in another. The elders were more inclined
to sit still, or went only a little way up the cliff; but several of the
grown-up young ladies and gentlemen climbed up by somewhat steep paths
to the downs above. The younger ones, the tide being low, very
naturally preferred scrambling out on the rocks in search of
sea-anemones, and other marine curiosities. There were numerous
projecting rocks forming small bays in the large bay, and thus
completely hiding the different parties from each other. No two boys