OARD WITH BUTLER'S DESK.--"FOUR-POSTERS AND THE
THINGS OF FOUR-POSTER DAYS"

THE ROMANTIC CENTRE OF WESTOVER; EVELYN BYRD'S OLD ROOM

THE COLONIAL COURTYARD GATES.--TOMB OF COLONEL WILLIAM BYRD

THE DRAWING-ROOM MANTELPIECE AT WESTOVER

TOMBS IN THE OLD WESTOVER CHURCHYARD
(In the foreground is the tomb of Evelyn Byrd)

A TRAPPER'S HOME BY THE RIVER BANK.--"OFTEN ... THE WANDERING HOUSEBOAT
COMES ALONG TO FIND ONLY AN EMPTY PIER"

BERKELEY; THE ANCESTRAL HOME OF A SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE AND OF TWO PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

THE FIELD ROAD AND THE QUARTERS

RIVERWARD FRONT OF SHIRLEY (In full color)

THE OLD "GREAT HALL"

THE DRAWING-ROOM

THE KITCHEN BUILDING, FIFTY YARDS FROM THE MANOR-HOUSE

A BRICK OVEN IN THE BAKE-ROOM

SOME NOTEWORTHY PIECES OF OLD SHIRLEY PLATE

PEALE'S PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

VARINA

DUTCH GAP CANAL.--FALLING CREEK

THE VOYAGE ENDED, GADABOUT IN WINTER QUARTERS

CHAPTER I

ALL ABOUT GADABOUT

It was dark and still and four o'clock on a summer morning. The few
cottages clustering about a landing upon a Virginia river were, for the
most part, sleeping soundly, though here and there a flickering light
told of some awakening home. Down close by the landing was one little
house wide awake. Its windows were aglow; lights moved about; and busy
figures passed from room to room and out upon the porch in front.

Suddenly, with a series of quick, muffled explosions, the whole cottage
seemed carried from its foundations. It slipped sidewise, turned almost
end for end, then drifted slowly away from its neighbours, out into the
darkness and the river. Its occupants seemed unconscious of danger.
There was one of them standing on the porch quite unconcernedly turning
a wheel, while two or three others were watching, with rather amused
expressions, two little engines chugging away near the kitchen stove.

And thus it was that the houseboat Gadabout left her moorings in the
outskirts of old Norfolk, and went spluttering down the Elizabeth to
find Hampton Roads and to start upon her cruise up the historic James
River.

But to tell the story we must begin before that summer morning. It was
this way. We were three: the daughter-wife (who happened to see the
magazine article that led to it all), her mother, and her husband. The
head of the family, true to the spirit of the age, had achieved a
nervous breakdown and was under instructions from his ph