by a persistent readiness to take the most hideous risks. The C.O. of
the British battalion then stationed in Bermuda was rather hard put to
it to find sufficient employment for his men, owing to the restricted
area of the island. He encouraged, therefore, their engagements in
civilian capacities, as it not only put money into the men's pockets,
but kept them interested. At Government House we had
soldier-gardeners, soldier-grooms, a soldier cowman, and a
soldier-footman. The footman was a Southampton lad, and having been
employed as a boy in a racing-yacht on the Solent, was a most useful
man in a boat, and the Guardsman had accordingly annexed him as one of
his racing crew, regardless of the fact that his labours afloat rather
interfered with the specific domestic duties ashore for which he had
been engaged by the Governor. A hundred-year-old yacht had for many
years been handed over from Governor to Governor. The _Lady of the
Isles_ was Bermudian-rigged and Bermudian-built of cedar-wood. She
had great beam, and was very lightly sparred, having a correspondingly
small sail-area, but in spite of her great age she was still
absolutely sound and was a splendid sea-boat. The Bermudian rig had
been evolved to meet local conditions. Imagine a cutter with one
single long spar in the place of a mast and topmast; this spar is
stepped rather farther aft than it would be in an ordinary cutter, and
there is one huge mainsail, "leg-of-mutton" shaped, with a boom but no
gaff, and a very large jib. Owing to their big head-sails, and to
their heavy keels, these Bermudian craft fore-reach like a steamer,
and hardly ever miss stays. For the same reason they are very wet, as
they bury themselves in the water. A handsome silver cup had been
presented by a visitor for a yacht race right round the Bermudas, and
the Guardsman managed to persuade the Governor to enter his
centenarian yacht for this race, and to confide the sailing of her to
himself. The ancient _Lady of the Isles_ got a very liberal time