The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-10-17
AFLOATIN the FLIRT.


did at that time. The truth is, 1t was an
awful affair altogether, and it is only
now when l can laugh unteignedly at 1t
myself that | can bear to repeat 1t, even
on paper. There We're three Ot us en-
gagged in the plot, and we bound our
selves sOlemnly under the most dlreful
penalties to protest that we mad never
enjoyed holiday SO much; but have
reasons for believing that Tom and Jack
have both violated heir obligations, ana
| feel absolved thereby from mine.
This is how it all happened. YOU see
we that is Tom, Jack, aad l. thought it
fortunate at the time that AL our holl-
days lell upon the same first fortnight In
August; but as it turned out 1T wasn't;
Tor If 1t hadn't been for tnat circum-
stance we'd never have had our terri
BILE experience with Lne Flirt.
But | am going too last Our holidays
tell at the same time, as L have said, and
many plans tor making the most OF both
the Time and the money at our command
were discussed and abandoned. At
length the idea was mo0teu that it would
not be a bad arrangement to hire yacht
for fortnight anu spend our holidays
| in cruising about in her. Like most
young men belonging TO Glasgow, We
mad all had some exp "rience OF boating
on the Firth Of Olyue and could boast a
| little oil our nautical knoWledge when
! smoking d cigar on The bridge ol river
| steamer.
The plan proposed was to work won-
ders. For instance. We would not be
confined 10 one place, nor TO the hack
| neyed steamboat routes, DuJ could go
wherever the spirit moved US (What
ABOUT IT il we forgot that three spirits
| mIgnt not work exactly i'll unison Tor d
whole fortnighlD. Tnen We would save
The price OF lod- -Iugs-we would nave no
one Lo bovnar US aUOut when we came in
at might've Would-&c., &C., &c. To
whom belonged the credit Ui the nappy
Thought l will not undertake to determ-
inc. This know, that we all claimed
the paternity OF 1t before the holidays,
and we all repudiated 1t after them.
| The only question was, could we get a
| yacul? and / remember how Tom and L
| Il am Bill) could almost have bugged
Jack when, one evening, he announced
nat he had managed to charter that
was the woru) u leu-ton cutter from a
Fellow LIE knew. The fellow nad said
Lnat the Fllrt (sucn was the attractive
name OF the yacnt) was perhaps a little
slow, but tna5 size was periectly sale
and just the thing Tor us, as we meant
TO work her ourselves. OF course, we
invested in blue pilot jackeus (they
would serve in place OF topcoats tor the
winter, with The brass buttons taken
| of \ and IL could sea, cely be expected
| that we would resist The temptation to
mount tInsel band on our caps. Then
| | borrowed IL DluUcular from friend
(not forgetting the case. for iL's leather
| case sluug over The shoulder and under
the lett arm which produces the impress
slun) and The other fellows managed 10
| nun, up a pair OF opera-glasses by dinL
| OF their joint eXertlOns.
Thus provided, we one Monday morn
| ing dtployed at the railway station and
slOrmed first-class compartment. The
| gold bands on our caps attracted the
proper amount OF attention.; but we felt
| Lnat it would not be qulle fair to leave
them unsupported i'll the task Of up
holding our nautical reputation. so we
DIunyeu INTO sea talk with a reckless
ness which gives my hair Il tendency to
rise on END even yet when L think OF it.
Anywhere it would be rash; but in a
Greenock train 1T was perfectly des-
perate. Win the blindness of intatua-
tlon we ratified on unaware Of what we
were doing I'LL we reachet Port Glas-
gov, where all Old yellow-faced gentle
man. who had been paying tne most 1laL-
lering attention to our talk, got out.
turned, ana, putting his head back inlo
Tue carriage, said with much com
passion:
"Let me assure you, young gentlemen,
on the word OF an old sailor, that The
best remedy for sea-sICKness is brandy
auu- water. Be sure TO take plenty OF IL
| with you, Tor you'lI need it,"
Tnen he closed tne door with great
eolemnity.
We tried to smile, but am sure we
| were neither 80 successful IN the al
| ,empt as We could have WISHED, nor as
the other passengers were; and we felt
relieved wheu The tram reached
Greenock and we got away from the
scene OF our numlllatlOn.
| The feeling of navlng been taken down
soon wore oil, however, under the intlu-
ieuce OF the sea and The lis, ana BY Lne
time we had walked the lengln OF Fort
Matilda we had quite regalned our usual
spirits.
And now as the yachts at anchor In
| GourOCk Bay came lnto view the bluOcu-
! lar and The opCra-glasS were brought
INTO requisitiOu in Lle nope of making
out tue word Fllrt in goId lettering
| either on the bow or stern OF one Of the
| lairy crafts.
| Need | say that it was only the finest
| lOOhIng oil the ydCut5 LAdL we exam Inc u
thus anXIUusly; but it appeared W De ii
rule among yacni smen not 10 follow The
vulgar Practice Ol merchantmen IN
painting the name upon III it vessels, 50
| we desIsted from our examination with
the comforting Iet -ctiOn tnaL our sur.
Prise would afford us all the greater
| pleasure when she was pointed Out to
US.
Jack proposed that we should each
| select u yacnt and have sWeepstake OF
| nal crown apiece upon our selections,
and Tom umped at The proposal in "a
| moment, picking out the nne5t looking
vessel in The bay as his faVOrlLG. Jack
| protested that he had st0,en marc
upon him, but at length made cno4ce,
selecting cutter Luat lord need not
nave been ashamed OF Ownlng. Believ-
Ing it 10 be unlikely that amid such ID
number Of craft amy Of Us would Tx upon
the right one, l, for the fun OI The tulng,
| chose a dirty old boat That was hJating
heavily far from the shore, Win green
| sea-Weed Clluglng TO tAe chain cable OF
ner anchor, and which looked as II she
had never made the acqu lntance OF ii
paint brush. l was rallied greatly upon
my selection, Jack declaring That she
mad been modelled on the lines OF NoaA'o
Ark, and that The heau OF The man who
mad built her would never ache again
| while Toms merrlment came near W
throwing him into COMMISSIONS.
i'll hntl "A N lttf In /