plans and specifications.

"I read once about a 'sneak-box'--a flat-bottomed shooting canoe--
that could carry a sail and serve at the same time as a cabin."

"I have used one myself duck-shooting. Go on."

"Well, sir, I built a boat on the plan given, and spent a holiday
one year on the Broads. It drew very little water, and was easily
managed. However, you know all that. But what I was thinking about
was a design for a larger boat of the kind, with a propeller
attached to it which could be worked by lever."

"By a lever?"

"Perhaps you have seen a lame man working a bicycle by a lever--
well, after that principle. There would be a steel rod with cog-
wheels, and one man could work the lever as the lame cyclist does
without the labour of rowing." Venning waited nervously for the
criticism.

"At any rate the lever would be a relief after the paddles," said
Mr. Hume, gravely.

"But that is not all," continued the inventor, hastily. "I would rig
up a light American windmill amidships, which could work the screw
and get more speed with a following wind in conjunction with a sail
rigged up forward."

"Bravo, my boy!" said Mr. Hume, laughing. "How many revolutions of