33. THE ENGLISH CHANNEL--NORMANDY


On Monday morning the little steamer Speedwell made her appearance round
the promontory by Knollsea Bay, to take in passengers for the transit to
Cherbourg. Breezes the freshest that could blow without verging on
keenness flew over the quivering deeps and shallows; and the sunbeams
pierced every detail of barrow, path and rabbit-run upon the lofty
convexity of down and waste which shut in Knollsea from the world to the
west.

They left the pier at eight o'clock, taking at first a short easterly
course to avoid a sinister ledge of limestones jutting from the water
like crocodile's teeth, which first obtained notoriety in English history
through being the spot whereon a formidable Danish fleet went to pieces a
thousand years ago. At the moment that the Speedwell turned to enter
upon the direct course, a schooner-yacht, whose sheets gleamed like
bridal satin, loosed from a remoter part of the bay; continuing to bear
off, she cut across the steamer's wake, and took a course almost due
southerly, which was precisely that of the Speedwell. The wind was very
favourable for the yacht, blowing a few points from north in a steady
pressure on her quarter, and, having been built with every modern
appliance that shipwrights could offer, the schooner found no difficulty
in getting abreast, and even ahead, of the steamer, as soon as she had
escaped the shelter of the hills.