A Trial Sail.—Preparing for a Cruise.—Charging a Reed Bed.—An explosion of Birds.—The First Adventure.—Orange-Tip Butterfly.—No Salt.—How Salt is obtained.

The project of the cruise was not allowed to drop. The more the boys thought about it the more they determined to take it. The first thing to do was to obtain the consent of their elders. Mr. Merivale had no great objection to it. Sir Richard Carleton was so pleased with the rapid improvement in the health and spirits of his son that he would have consented to anything he proposed. Indeed, he was so anxious to help the boys in all their undertakings, that he would have spoilt them too much had it not been for the advice of Mr. Merivale, who said to him—

"Don't let the boys think they can have anything they like for the asking, or you will spoil their independence of character. Depend upon it they will find far more delight in making things for themselves than in having them bought for them, and it will do them more good."

Sir Richard saw the wisdom of this advice, but he insisted upon giving them a book on botany; and one day when the boys went into the boat-house they saw on the shelves a nicely bound copy of Ann Pratt's Flowering Plants of Great Britain in six volumes. This was a great acquisition to them, and Jimmy, in the fulness of his delight, got upon the table with a volume under each arm, and executed a war-dance of exultation.

The consent of the ladies was far harder to obtain. Mrs. Brett said she would see what Mrs. Merivale said; and Mrs. Merivale was afraid that it would not be safe, and for some days she hung back, and would not say "yes" or "no," although Frank pleaded hard with her. His mother was very much afraid of the water. She did not like to see yachts heeling over as if they were going to be upset, and she thought the boys were not old enough to manage a yacht by themselves. Frank at last persuaded her to take a sail in the Swan, and see for herself how safe it was, and a day was fixed when everyone should have a sail on the Broad, and try the capacities both of the yacht and of the boys as sailors. When the day arrived, however, Frank put them off, saying it was not convenient. Mr. Merivale smiled as he guessed the reason. It was blowing a stiff breeze, and sailing on such a day would not reassure a timid woman. The next day, however, was fine, and came with a gentle breeze, just rippling the surface of the water, and with a confident air, Frank got his party on board. The sail was quite a success. The yacht glided about on an even keel, and Frank, who was at the helm, carefully avoided any abrupt motion in tacking or gybing.

"You see it is quite safe, mother," said he.

"Yes, my dear, I suppose it is, and I suppose you must go, as you have set your heart upon it; but how can you possibly think of sleeping in that small cabin?"

"One of us will sleep at each side, and the third will sleep in a hammock stretched across the middle."

"But you will be suffocated, dear."

"Have no fear, mother, we will see to the ventilation."

So they obtained permission to go, and, as time was an object, they set to work with great vigour to prepare for their voyage. They made a hammock out of an old sail. Their beds were formed of cushions placed on the bunks on either side of the cabin. To prevent the necessity of tucking in their bedclothes they adopted a well-known dodge of yachtsmen; which is to double the sheets and blankets, and sew the sides and bottoms together, so as to form a bag into which they could creep. They took fishing-tackle with them, and also their old muzzle loader. Dick took his butterfly net, Jimmy a quantity of newspapers in which to dry plants, and Frank an opera-glass, with which to watch the movements of birds at a distance. Frank also took care to see to the eating department, and with his mother's help he got a very fair stock of provisions on board. The day at length arrived for their departure. It was the Monday in the last week of May. At eight o'clock in the morning they bade farewell to Mary and Florrie, who had come to see them off, hoisted their sails, and away they went before a light breeze from the northward. A cheer broke from them as they found themselves fairly afloat, and the boat-house grow smaller in the distance behind them, and the waving handkerchiefs of the two girls could be seen no longer. It was a beautiful morning, and their spirits were high. Holidays, sport, and adventure lay before them, a stout boat under them. There were no three happier boys in the world.

They sailed slowly through the narrow outlet of Hickling Broad into Whiteslea Pool, and through another narrow passage into Heigham Sounds.

A dyke called the Old Meadow Dyke ran from the Broad on the left into Horsey Mere; and Frank proposed making a detour along this and exploring Horsey Mere, but the other boys were too anxious to get on. It was too near home to begin to explore. In the middle of Heigham Sounds, which is a good sized sheet of water, was a large bed of reeds, such as is locally called a 'rond.'

"Let us go slap-dash into that. We shall be sure to find some nests," said Frank.

"All right," said both Jimmy and Dick. So Frank put the helm up, and the yacht drove on before the wind, surging through the rustling reeds, which bowed and bent before her, until she came to a standstill well into the heart of the rond.

"Down with the sails," said Frank, and the halyards were let go and the sails came down with a run. As the yacht crashed into the rond there was quite an explosion of birds from it. Water-hens, coots, and marsh-tits flew out on both sides, and from the centre of it rose a little duck with a bright, chestnut-coloured head and neck.

"That is a teal," said Frank, "we shall find her nest here, so look carefully."

They jumped into the shallow water, having first taken off their shoes and stockings, and began to hunt about for nests. They speedily found several coots' and water-hens' nests, and also a dab-chick's; but they wanted none of these, and continued their search for the teal's nest. At last—

"Here it is," said Dick delightedly, and sure enough there the nest was, in a small bush which grew in the very centre of the rond, where the soil was pretty firm. The nest was large and thickly lined with feathers, and it contained twelve cream-coloured eggs. They took six of them, and then, satisfied with their spoil, they went back to their yacht, and tried to push her off again. But this was no easy task. They pushed and pushed, until they were exhausted, and the only effect their pushing seemed to have was to push their own legs deeper into the mud. The yacht refused to be moved.

"Well, this is a pretty go, to be wrecked at the very beginning of our cruise! We have run her almost high and dry. How they will laugh at us at home!" said Jimmy.

"They sha'n't have the chance of doing that. We will get her off somehow or other. We ought to have gone to leeward of the rond, and run her up in the wind's eye into it, and then we could have backed her off with the sails," said Frank.

"Live and learn," said Dick. "I vote we strip and go overboard again and try to lift her off. We can get the oars from the boat, and use them as levers."

This was undoubtedly the best thing to do, and although the water was not over warm, they took off their clothes and worked and pushed away, until they made the mud around the yacht as soft as a pudding, and themselves as black as negroes. Then the yacht moved a little, and putting forth all their strength they shoved her back into deeper water. Not waiting to dress themselves, they ran the sails up and steered away for the Kendal Dyke at the south-east end of the Broad. They meant to stay at the mouth of the Broad to bathe and dress. There was no one to see them, so it did not matter. As they neared the mouth of the dyke, to their great dismay a yacht with several people on board came out of it. The people stared in blank astonishment at the strange double-bodied yacht and her still stranger crew. Jimmy and Dick dived at once into the cabin. Frank could not leave the helm, and yet could not stay where he was; so without further thought he plunged into the water at the stern of the yacht, and, holding on by the rudder, he contrived to keep her on her course until Jimmy reappeared with something thrown over him, and took hold of the tiller. When they came to an anchorage in a secluded spot among the reeds, they bathed and dressed.

"Well," said Dick, "if we go on having adventures at this rate, we shall have plenty to tell when we get home."

"I like adventures, but these are not the sort I like," said Jimmy.

"Well, never mind, better luck next time," said Frank, soothingly.

Sailing through Kendal Dyke, which in places was so narrow that the Swan brushed the reeds on both sides as she passed through, they reached the Hundred Stream, and, turning to the south-westward, they sailed, with no further adventure, until they came to Heigham Bridge, where they had to lower their masts in order to get through. While Frank and Jimmy did this, Dick took his butterfly net, and went after an orange-tip butterfly, which he saw flying past. This butterfly is one of the first which makes its appearance in the spring, and it is one of the prettiest. It looks as if a bunch of red and white rose petals had taken to themselves wings and fled. It is a small butterfly, having an orange-red tip on the ends of its forewings. The male only has this ornament. The female has only a greyish black tip. The under surface of the wings of this pretty insect is no less beautiful than the upper. It is white, with bright green marblings, or what appear as bright green to the naked eye. When looked at through the microscope it will be found that the green appearance is caused by the mixture of black and bright-yellow scales. (I suppose that most of my boy readers will know that the dust which is so easily rubbed off a butterfly's wings is in reality a coating of scales arranged one over the other like feathers and of very exquisite shapes.) The caterpillar of the orange-tip is green, with a white stripe on each side, and the chrysalis is very peculiar in shape, tooth-like, and pointed at both ends.

Orange-Tip
Butterfly.