At the Villa Beaulieu where we lived, there were immense
rejoicings that night. Of course all our crew dined there, and I
was allowed to come down to dinner myself. Toasts were proposed;
healths were drunk again and again. Speeches were made, and the
terrific cheering must have seriously weakened the rafters and
roof of the house. No one grudged my father his immense
satisfaction, for after all he had originated the idea of winning
the championship of the Mediterranean, and had had the boat built
at his sole expense, and it was not his defects as an oarsman but
his fifty-five years which had prevented him from stroking his own
boat.
Long after I had been sent to bed, I heard the uproar from below
continuing, and, in the strictest confidence, I have every reason
to believe that they made a real night of it.
Two of that crew are still alive. Gallant old Sir George Higginson
was born in 1826, consequently the General is now ninety-four
years of age. The splendid old veteran's mental faculties are as
acute as ever; he is not afflicted with deafness and he is still
upright as a dart, though his eyesight has failed him.
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