Almost the whole trade of the _Rodwell_ consisted of carrying seaside folk from Daneford to Seacliff and back again. She sailed every week-day of the season from Seacliff to Daneford at half-past seven in the morning, and from Daneford to Seacliff at half-past six in the afternoon. Many of the business men of the city kept their families all the season at Seacliff, they themselves coming and going between the little town and the city daily, and enjoying the advantages of sleeping in sea-freshened air and two bright pleasant sails of a couple of hours each in the day. When, in overhauling the _Rodwell_ in 1865, they found the boilers in not a satisfactory condition, they took off five pounds of steam. "Better to be sure than sorry," they said. This reduction of steam made the _Rodwell_ slower in 1866 than in previous years. On Tuesday, the 14th of August, 1866, the engineer of the _Rodwell_ made a report to the owners, and was directed to work her at another five pounds' reduction of pressure. When Grey advanced the five thousand pounds on the mortgage he made no enquiry into her condition. He knew the boat very well, had many times travelled by her between Daneford and Seacliff. He knew she was worth more than the money asked for, and as no mortgage existed upon her he felt he should be quite secure if the company ensured her, and handed him a policy for five thousand pounds. His position was that if the company did not pay the interest on his money and his money itself, ultimately he could seize the _Rodwell_; and if the steamboat were lost by any chance of wind or water he should get his money from the insurance company. Mr. Grey was as familiar with the steamboat _Rodwell_ as any man in Daneford. He had often spent the summer months with his wife at Seacliff, and had been a passenger in the boat hundreds of times. He knew all the men employed on her; he knew every exterior brass plate and hinge and bolt. He could go about her blindfold, and steer her up or down the river. He didn't understand machinery, but often said he could command, steer, and attend to the engines all by himself, and save the wages of the crew. Daneford was proud of all its institutions, and after Wat there were few it felt more complaisant about than the pretty town and picturesque scenery of Seacliff and the faithful _Rodwell_, the town being regarded as the country sweetheart, the milkmaid lover of the city, and the steamboat as the Mercury of the love-making. It was Grey's intention to spend the month of September, 1866, at Seacliff. He did not own a house there. It had been his custom to rent a small white cottage that hung half-way down a red cliff surrounding one of the blue bays clustering around the high headland on which the white town was built.