“I am an Englishman, an Oxford graduate as you would say in America, and it was my good or evil fortune to inherit an estate which yields a large income. Of course I have to look about me to find the means to spend this income,” Mr. Fobbington proceeded, laughing heartily at the gigantic witticism he had perpetrated, though Louis thought Uncle Moses had exhausted that fountain. “Well, I had some trouble about it, for I am not a fast man. In fact, I never had any wild oats to sow.” “You are fortunate,” added the embryo yachtsman. “I don’t even drink wine or beer; and which way should a poor fellow with ten thousand pounds a year turn to get rid of his income?” Mr. Fobbington laughed heartily again; but Louis had just come from a banquet of precisely this sort of humor. “You said you had had some experience in carrying out the views we hold in common,” suggested the Park millionaire. “Exactly so. My friends, when they found I had a taste for the sea, recommended me to purchase a yacht that would cost from ten to twenty thousand pounds. I had been on a yacht cruise to the Mediterranean, and on another to Norway; but I did not like the style of the thing, or rather there was too much style about it,” Mr. Fobbington explained. “That’s just the idea--too much style,” added Louis, who was beginning to find his new friend a man after his own heart. “In fact, I thought my two excursions would have been more enjoyable if they had been made in an ordinary sort of vessel. There was too much varnish, too much discipline, and everything was too nice and precise for a free-and-easy time.” “Just my own opinion,” said Louis, with growing enthusiasm. “Badly as I wished to spend my income, I did not desire a yacht like the Daydream, which was the name of my friend’s craft. To cut the story short, I bought a nice schooner that had been used for a packet. She was a good vessel, and she was built in America.” “Built in America!” exclaimed Louis, who thought it very strange that an English gentleman should cruise in an American-built vessel; but he was not posted in navigation laws, and he made no objection. “That is what her papers show,” added the stranger. “But I am wearying you with this long story.” “Not at all; I am very much interested in it. You seem to have abandoned your schooner, and come to the United States to see the country.” “Not at all, my dear fellow, for I came over here in her. She is at anchor at a place they call Southfield. But I have changed my plans,” continued Mr. Fobbington, looking inquiringly into the face of his companion, as if to ascertain what impression his narrative had made. “Then you have become tired of yachting in accordance with your views and mine?” Louis inquired. “Far from it; but I am going around the world, and I find it would take me about three years to do it in the Oxford,” replied the British millionaire. “I cannot give so much time to it.” “Then time is more valuable to you than money, is it?”