h to get into it! Just look how beautifully the deck is
made--I can see all the little timbers; and the mast, it's nearly as
high as I am; and those little pulleys--oh, how perfect they are!"

"You must see her with all her sails set, a-scudding before the breeze,
Master Gordon," said George, overtaking us. "I reckon there's not a
craft of her size that would beat her for speed."

"Can you do the sails?" my cousin asked me, regardless of nautical
phraseology.

"Master Willie! he knows as much as a sailor born about reefing and
unreefing the sails," said George, answering for me.

"Then please do let us sail her at once. I do long to see her on the
water," begged Aleck.

And accordingly we two sat down, overlooked by George, who, from a
delicate desire to show off my capacity to manage the sails alone,
abstained from offering any help; and, drawing the boat up between us on
the beach, set the sails, and then proceeded to launch her upon the
clear deep water of the Cove.

"This way now," I said to my cousin, when we saw that the breeze was
filling the sails, and the "Fair Alice" was making her way out towards
the mouth of the Cove. "Come and see my harbour bar;" and springing
quickly from rock to rock, and running where there was sand, I guided my
cousin to the entrance of the Cove, which was very narrow in proportion
to the width and extent of the inlet. On each side of it there was a low
stake strongly fastened into the rock, and from stake to stake a rope
was stretched: it was long enough to lie along the bottom of the
ground, and so offer no impediment to the boats; but when I was sailing
my vessel in the Cove, and the tide was in, it was always stretched more
tightly, so as to prevent the possibility of my little ship escaping
from me into the wide sea.

"See," I said, "I have only to slip this ring over the stake, and then I
can feel quite sure the 'Fair Alice' is safe. She can't get past my
harbour bar."

In the meantime the little yacht had kept her course nearly to the
entrance of the Cove, but a sudden shifting of the wind landed her on
the opposite side, and I had to make my way all round to get her off
again. Aleck remained on his side of the Cove, and we amused ourselves
for some time in contriving to get the little boat to sail backwards and
forwards, tacking gradually down to the boat-house.

My cousin was so absorbed in the enjoyment of sailing the "Fair Alice,"
that he was less eager about gett