fault he found with her being the deficiency of head-room
below. This fault, however, was inseparable from her peculiar shape,
for, as I have already stated, she had a very shallow body, and a flat
floor; and although she drew seven feet of water aft, her depth below
her platform was entirely taken up with the ballast and water-tank,
leaving only a height of four feet between the top of the platform and
the under side of the beams; she was, in short, an exceedingly small
craft for her tonnage.

We went ashore in his lordship's boat at his invitation; and as I
casually mentioned that I meant on the morrow to put our "boat" together
and give her a trial, he very kindly offered to accompany us in the
_Emerald_.

My sister was, of course, delighted to see us both, and equally
delighted to hear how thoroughly satisfied we were with our little
vessel. It was evident that she had not quite conquered her
apprehensions on the score of our long voyage in so small a craft; but
our eulogiums upon the _Water Lily's_ many good qualities were so
enthusiastic, and the confidence we expressed in her sea-going powers so
thorough, that Ada soon came to regard the voyage as in no degree more
perilous than it would have been if undertaken in a vessel of four or
five hundred tons.

We did not think it necessary to point out to her that we should
probably be exposed to many perils besides those of the sea; and so the
dear girl became satisfied, and learned to contemplate our speedy
departure with comparative equanimity.

The next morning we made arrangements with a boatman for the hire of his
punt during the short time that we intended to remain in Weymouth, as we
wished our tubular boat to come into use only when we had no other to
fall back upon.

Having struck our bargain, Bob and I jumped into the hired punt, and
rowed off to the _Water Lily_, which lay at anchor in the roadstead.

It was necessary to pass close to the _Emerald_ to reach our own craft,
and as we pulled under her stern, Lord--hailed us to know whether we
still intended to make our trial trip, and, if so, how long it would be
ere we should be ready.

I replied that I hoped to be ready in about an hour, whereupon his
lordship jumped into his boat to pay a visit to the post-office, saying
he would be back in time to go out with us.

As soon as we got on board the _Water Lily_, we got our tubes on deck,
screwed the different sections together, and launched them ov