T, _ENCHANTRESS_.
Ten Tons.
Apply, SCREW & MATCHEM,
Bournemouth."

It was just the very thing. I was pining for a breath of sea air again.
It was perfect weather for a cruise. I would go to Bournemouth, inspect
the yacht at once, and, if she suited me, take her for a month or so. My
mind once made up, I hunted up my Jehu and set off for the train, never
dreaming that by so doing I was taking the second step in that important
chain of events that was to affect all the future of my life.

CHAPTER IV

I SAVE AN IMPORTANT LIFE

I travelled to Bournemouth by a fast train, and immediately on arrival
made my way to the office of Messrs. Screw & Matchem, with a view to
instituting inquiries regarding the yacht they had advertised for hire.
It was with the senior partner I transacted my business; a shrewd but
pleasant gentleman.

Upon my making known my business to him, he brought me a photograph of
the craft in question, and certainly a nice handy boat she looked. She
had been built, he went on to inform me, for a young nobleman, who had
made two very considerable excursions in her before he had been
compelled to fly the country, and was only three years old. I learned
also that she was lying in Poole harbour, but he was good enough to say
that if I wished to see her she should be brought round to Bournemouth
the following morning, when I could inspect her at my leisure. As this
arrangement was one that exactly suited me, I closed with it there and
then, and thanking Mr. Matchem for his courtesy, betook myself to my
hotel. Having dined, I spent the evening upon the pier--the first of its
kind I had ever seen--listened to the band and diverted myself with
thoughts of her to whom I had plighted my troth, and whose unexpected
departure from England had been such a sudden and bitter disappointment
to me.

Next morning, faithful to promise, the _Enchantress_ sailed into the bay
and came to an anchor within a biscuit throw of the pier. Chartering a
dinghy, I pulled myself off to her, and stepped aboard. An old man and a
boy were engaged washing down, and to them I introduced myself and
business. Then for half an hour I devoted myself to overhauling her
thoroughly. She was a nice enough little craft, well set up, and from
her run looked as if she might possess a fair turn of speed; the gear
was in excellent order, and this was accounted for when the old man told
me she had been repaired and thoroughly o