What a lovely
frigate!"
"Lovely, you say! Ah, she was lovely! That is the Andromeda. I was a
mate aboard of her--sub-lieutenant they call it now, though I like the
old name best."
"What a lovely rake her masts have, and what a curve to her bows! She
must have been a clipper."
The old sailor rubbed his hands and his eyes glistened. His old ships
bordered close upon his wife and his son in his affections.
"I know Funchal," said the lady carelessly. "A couple of years ago I
had a seven-ton cutter-rigged yacht, the Banshee, and we ran over to
Madeira from Falmouth."
"You ma'am, in a seven-tonner?"
"With a couple of Cornish lads for a crew. Oh, it was glorious! A
fortnight right out in the open, with no worries, no letters, no
callers, no petty thoughts, nothing but the grand works of God, the
tossing sea and the great silent sky. They talk of riding, indeed, I am
fond of horses, too, but what is there to compare with the swoop of a
little craft as she pitches down the long steep side of a wave, and then
the quiver and spring as she is tossed upwards again? Oh, if our souls
could transmigrate I'd be a seamew above all birds that fly! But I keep
you, Admiral.
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