The people were beginning to come down upon the barges when we returned from this excursion, and it was thought best that we should take our places. The stream was growing very full, not only of laborious punts containing three brightly-dressed ladies and one perspiring young man, but of all kinds of craft, some luxuriously overshadowed with flounced awnings, under which young gentlemen with cigarette-attachments reposed, protecting themselves further with Japanese paper umbrellas. The odd part of this was that both they and their umbrellas seemed to be taken by themselves and everybody else quite au sérieux. This, again, would be different in America. Mr. Horton left us with Lord Symonds, who had not to row, he explained to us, until later in the day; and presently we saw our host below, with the rest of his bare-legged, muscular crew, getting gingerly into the long, narrow outrigger lying alongside. They arranged themselves with great care and precision, and then held their oars, looking earnestly at a little man who sat up very straight in the stern--the cox. He was my first cox, for I had never seen a boat-race before, excepting between champions, who do not row with coxes, and I was delighted to find how accurately he had been described in the articles we read about English boating--his size, his erect-ness and alertness, and autocratic dignity. At a word from the cox every man turned his head half-way round and back again; then he said, in the sternest accents I had ever heard, 'Are--you--ready?' and in an instant they were off. 'Where are they going?' Lady Torquilin asked. 'Oh, for a preliminary spin,' said Lord Symonds, 'and then for the starting-point.' 'And when do the barges start?' I inquired, without having given the matter any kind of consideration. 'The barges!' said Lord Symonds, mystified. 'Do you mean these? They don't start; they stay here.' 'But can we see the race from here?' I asked. 'Beautifully! They come past.' 'Do I understand, Lord Symonds, that the Oxford boat-race takes place out there?' 'Certainly,' said he. 'Why not?' 'Oh, no particular reason,' I returned--'if there is room.' 'Rather!' the young gentleman explained. 'This is the noble river Isis, Miss Wick.' 'It may not be so big as the Mississippi, but it's worthy of your respectful consideration, young lady,' put in Lady Torquilin. Thus admonished, I endeavoured to give the noble river Isis my respectful consideration, but the barges occupied so much space in it that I was still unable to understand how a boat-race of any importance could come between us and the opposite bank without seriously inconveniencing somebody.