week or more, though we shall go out from here to-morrow and join
those lying in the Hope; for indeed you can be of no use while we are
fitting, and would but do damage to your clothes and be in the way of
the sailors. It is but little accommodation you will find on board
here, though we will do the best we can for you."

"We do not come about accommodation, captain," Lord Oliphant laughed,
"and we have brought down gear with us that will not soil, or rather,
that cannot be the worse for soiling. There are three or four others
at the inn where we stopped last night who are coming on board, but I
hear that the rest of the Volunteers will probably join when the
Fleet assembles in Yarmouth roads."

"Then they must be fonder of journeying on horseback than I am," the
captain said. "While we are in the Hope, where, indeed, for aught I
know, we may tarry but a day or two, they could come down by boat
conveniently without trouble, whereas to Yarmouth it is a very long
ride, with the risk of losing their purses to the gentlemen of the
road. Moreover, though the orders are at present that the Fleet
gather at Yarmouth, and many are already there 'tis like that it may
be changed in a day for Harwich or the Downs. I pray you get your
meals at your inn to-day, for we are, as you see, full of work taking
on board stores. If it please you to stay and watch what is doing
here you are heartily welcome, but please tell the others that they
had best not come off until late in the evening, by which time I will
do what I can to have a place ready for them to sleep. We shall sail
at the turn of the tide, which will be at three o'clock in the
morning."

Oliphant wrote a few lines to the gentlemen on shore, telling them