The Harlequin Opal - 1893 Author:Fergus Hume Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. "THE BOHEMIAN." Come, lads, and send the capstan round, Oh. Hio! Rio! Our good old barkcy's outward bound, Oh, Hio! Rio! So, shipmat... more »es, all look sharp and spry, To Poll and Nancy say good-by, And tell them, if they pipe their eye, We're bound for Rio Grande. The old man drank his grog and swore, Oh, Rio! Rio! He'd stay no longer slack ashore, Oh, Rio! Rio! " Come, tumble up, my lads," sez he, " An' weigh the anchor speedily. In twenty days the Cross we'll see. We're bound for Rio Grande." ""What do you think of her? " asked Philip, with justifiable pride. " She's as near perfection as can be," replied Jack, enthusiastically; " no two opinions about that, old fellow." The Bohemian was a superbly modeled craft, and well deserved their admiration as she lay in Yarmouth Harbor, Isle of Wight. Sehooner rigged fore and aft, she was close on 200 tons yacht measurement, and one of the smartest vessels of her kind in British waters. Putting aside her speed when the screw was spinning, she was renowned for her sailing capabilities. With all sails set and a fair wind, she could smoke through the water at the rate of fifteen knots an hour. Thanks to her owner's wandering proclivities, she was well known in every civilized port, and a good many savage anchorages had also seen her graceful form glide into their smooth waters. Some said that her engines were too powerful for her frame; and, indeed, when all her furnaces were going the boat quivered from stem to stern at every rise and fall ofthe cranks. Philip, however, rarely used the full power of her screw, as it was quite unnecessary; but when she did fire up to the extent of her furnace accommodation her speed was something wonderful. Sometimes the baronet used the screw, more often th...« less