allowance on account of her age and her small spread of canvas, but to
every one but the Guardsman it seemed like entering a Clydesdale for
the Derby. He had already formulated his plan, but kept it strictly to
himself; for its success half a gale of wind was necessary. I agreed
to sail with him, and as the start was to be at 6 a.m. I got up three
mornings running at 4 a.m., and found myself with Joss, the Guardsman,
and the soldier-footman on the water-front at half-past five in the
morning, only to discover that there was not the faintest breath of
air, and that Hamilton Harbour lay one unruffled sheet of lapis-lazuli
in a flat calm; a state of things I should imagine unparallelled in "the
still vexed Bermoothes." (How on earth did Shakespeare ever come to
hear of Bermuda?) Three days running the race was declared "off," so
when the Guardsman awoke me on the fourth morning with the news that
it was blowing a full gale, I flatly declined to move, and turned over
and went to sleep again, thereby saving my nerves a considerable
trial.

Government House has a signal-station of its own, and at ten o'clock a
message arrived announcing that the _Lady of the Isles_ was
leading by four miles. The Governor, who had never taken his old
yacht's entry seriously, grew tremendously excited, ordered a light
trap and two fast ponies round, and he and I, equipped with telescopes
and sandwiches, spent the rest of the day tearing from one end of the
island to the other, now on the south shore, now on the north shore,
lying on our stomachs with telescopes to our eyes. It was quite true
that the old centenarian had a tremendous lead, which was gradually
decreased as the day went on. Still, the Guardsman, with face and
hands the colour of a copper kettle, appeared triumphantly at dinner
with a large silver cup which he presented with a bow to Lady
Wodehouse, the Governor's wife, whilst the soldier-footman, burnt