Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1878 - Inland voyage

0)1 the Willebroek Canal, 15
Half-way between Willebroek and Villevordey
in a beautiful reach of canal like a squire's
avenue, we went ashore to lunch. There were
two eggs, a junk of bread, and a bottle of wine
on board the Arethusa ; and two eggs and an
Etna cooking apparatus on board the Cigarette.
The master of the latter boat smashed one of
the eggs in the course of disembarcation ; but
observing pleasantly that it might still be cooked
(3^i.\ cH:Qr papier y he dropped it into the Etna, in its
covering of Flemish newspaper. We landed in
a blink of fine weather ; but we had not been
two minutes ashore, before the wind freshened
into half a gale, and the rain began to patter on
our shoulders. We sat as close about the Etna
as we could. The spirits burned with great
ostentation; the grass caught flame every minute
or two, and had to be trodden out ; and before
long, there were several burnt fingers of the
party. But the solid quantity of cookery ac-