tion in which I had been in a few hours before. The crisp air, the
sunlight, the movement on the river, and the moving river itself--
the road that ran with us, seeming to sympathise with us, anim-
ate us, and encourage us on--freshened me with new hope. I felt
mortified to be of so little use in the boat; but there were few
better oarsmen than my two friends, and they rowed with a steady
stroke that was to last all day.

At that time, the steam-traffic on the Thames was far below its
present extent, and waterman's boats were far more numerous. Of
barges, sailing colliers, and coasting traders, there were perhaps as
many as now; but, of steam-ships, great and small, not a tithe or
a twentieth part so many. Early as it was, there were plenty of
scullers going here and there that morning, and plenty of barges
dropping down with the tide; the navigation of the river between
bridges, in an open boat, was a much easier and commoner matter
in those days than it is in these; and we went ahead among many
skiffs and wherries, briskly.

Old London Bridge was soon passed, and old Billingsgate mar-
ket with its oyster-boats and Dutchmen, and the White Tower and
Traitor's Gate, and we were in among the tiers of shipping. Here,
were the Leith, Aberdeen, and Glasgow steamers, loading and un-
loading goods, and looking immensely high out of the water as we
passed alongside; here, were colliers by the score and score, with
coal-whippers plunging off stages on Deck, as counterweights to
measures of coal swinging up, which were then rattled over the
side into barges; here, at her moorings, was to-morrow's steamer
for Rotterdam, of which we took good notice: and here to-mor-
row's for Hamburg, under whose bowsprit we crossed. And now,
I sitting in the stern, could see with a faster beating heart, Mill
Pond Bank and Mill Pond Stairs.

'Is he there?' said Herbert.

'Not yet.'

'Right! He was not to come down till he saw us. Can you see
his signal?'

'Not well from here; but I think I see it.--Now I see him! Pull
both. Easy, Herbert. Oars!'

We touched the stairs lightly for a single moment, and he was

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