The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-01 00:00:00

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MARINE ARTILLERYMEN'S DOG.
Like many individuals wh have risen to eminence,
the infancy or puppyhood of " Dan Tucker" is hurled
in obscurity. The mcst diligent research has been
unable to ascertain whether Portsmouth, Portsea,
Landport, or Southsea, can claim the honour o
being the place of his birth. The first authentic
• trace of him which can be found is at Fort Cum-
berland, where he appeared about three years age.
Torough some kindness shown to him by a few of the
Marine Artillery at that station, he conceived a most
remarkable predilection for the corps, an attachment
which he continues to maintain to the present day,
with the most unswerving fidelity. When the men
to whom he had become attached were ordered to
Portsmouth, " Tucker" followed his benefactors, and
speedily became as great a favourite at the head-
quarters of the corps as he had b,en at the furl. He
first brought himself into notice by the penchant
which he displayed for accompanyinn large I) dins
of men, a practice which he soon carried to such a
height that not a drill squld could leave the barrackswithout Tucker in cotnpany. When the corps
went to church Tucker marched at its head, his usual
sportiveness gone, and grave and stately as a drum •
major. Arrived at the garrison chapel, he entered
the sacred precincts alo ,g with the men, and behaved
with as much decorum during sermon as Burns'
celebrated dog, whose
"Locket lettered brew brass collar,
Showed him the gentleman and scholar,"
could possibly have done. Service being over he re-
sumed his place at the head of the column, marched
back into barracks, and saw it properly haulted and
dismissed before he left the parade. Such conduct
endeared him to both officers and men, while his
abilities as a rat-hunter made him a prime favourite
with the commanding officer. He used regularly to
visit the barrack room at the dinner hour, with a view,
it is said, of ascertaining, by personal inspection, that
the men's provisions were of a proper quality. No
mercenary motive can be imputed to bim for this habit ;
but, on the contrary, a most zealous desire to perform
his duty, for it is stated and avowed as a positive fact,
that when he visits the guard•roOm (which he-486ton-
alders s part of his daily duty) he uniformly refuses to
receive any portion of a married man's provisions,
from a conscientious feeling that they should be re-
served for other purposes. He evinces a most critical
knowledge of the various trumpet calls ; if " the
assembly" sounds,]Tucker instantly makes his appear-
ance in bis accustomed station, but all the other calls
he treats with the most supreme indifference, with,
perhaps, the exception of the dinner one. He is
eminently a soldier's dog ; let a civilian attempt to
make friends with him, and he will show his teeth in
a manner not to be mistaken. The only fault which
can be imputed to him is, that hi allows his preju-
dices to carry him too far in this respect, especially if
the civilian should be of a shabby exterior, for when
such present themselves in barracks, he immediately
attacks them vigorously to drive them out, which
plainly demonstrates that he has a great repugnance
to low company.
Last summer, during the beat of the dog-days, a
proclamation was issued by the mayor, as is usual
at that season, that all dogs should be muzzled : poor
Tucker, being uprovided with that most annoying
piece of apparel, a muzzle, was seized by a " blue-
bottle," while making his usual perambulation to the
guard house, and carried off, nolens relent, to the
public office ; of course, protesting indignantly, in
his own peculiar style, against such ungentlemanly
usage. The intelligence was brought to the barracks
that Tucker was in the bands of the Philistines. The
excitement was immense. What was to be done ?
Every one was in confusion, and, consequently, no
plan of action could be decided upon, although a
hundred voices proposed a hundred different schemes
for his recovery. At length it was resolved to start
a subscription, which was immediately carried into
effect, and the necessary funds for his release were
forthcoming on the spot. A deputation than started
for the police-office, who became bail for Daniel
Tucker, and bore him off in triumph.
But even with all his amiable qualities, and still
more amiable prejudices, poor Tucker managed to
make a most uncompromising foe, and that, too, in
the marine artillery. He got shut, accidentally, into
the premises occupied as a barber's shop, ard not
relishing such close quarters, he made his exit by
bolting through a pane of glass in (me of the windows.
This was sufficient to awaken the most determined
hostility on the part of the barber, which manifested
itself in sundry kicks amid curses whenever oppor-
tunity occurred. At length, in an unwary moment,
Tucker again entered the sanctum of the barber
and that merciless fellow, seizing a poker, dealt him a
blow that broke his leg. The news flew through the
barracks like wildfire ; public indignation was at
the boiling point— some proposed to "hang the
barber," but that was instantly rejected, as being too
lenient ; tearing to pieces by steam-engines, or boil-
ing in the wash-house coppers, were among the
mildest proposals that could be listened to. A report
of the circumstvnce was made to the commanding-
officer, who, viewing the delinquent's conduct with
the utmost horror, suspended his judgment until he
should consider of some jainishment adequate to the
enormity of the offence. In the meantime poor
Tucker's leg had been humanely set by the surgeon ;
he is wrapped in a couple of great coats, placed by
the fire in one of the barrack rooms, arid considered
as an outpatient of the infirmary. But even now,
when " the assembly "sounds, poor Dan will hop out
upon three legs, and take his accustomed station,
although he can hardly yet be considered a conva-
lescent.—Hampshire Telegraph

NOVEL SPORT--A GOAT HUNT.
On the 14 inst. the echoes of " the beetling cliffs
of Gamrie Head" were waked up by the baying of
dogs, the firing of guns, and all the excitement of a
regular hunt. From an early hour in the morning
till nearly dusk upwards of a score of men might he
seen scrambling along the rocks overhanging the sea,
and every now and then a flash was visible, as a gun
went off with the muzzle pointed against a group of
horned and bearded quadrupeds, which scampered
about and capered from rock to rock at the discharge
of the firearms. The animals shot at were a herd of
goats, which inhabit the locality, and which, having
been allowed to roam about, tOr gars on the alinest
inaccessible el:fis which there stern the fide s of the
Moray Frith, on the scanty herbage of which they
manage to feed, have become wild. The first pair,
we believe, were brought to the district some ten years
ago, by Mr. Fordyce, one of the tenants on the estate
of bVhitehills, and being suffered to feed among the
rocks, they have increased to such a number, and have
become so wild in their habits that they frequently make
a descent, during the night, upin the farms in the
neighbourhood,committing extensive ravages in the corn
and turnip fields, and making off to the fastnesses on
being disturbed, or on the approach of morning.
Annoyed at the frequency and destructive nature of
these visits, a party assembled on the morning above-
mentioned, resolved on checking the ravages of the
invaders, by thinning their numbers. The party
mustered twelve guns, and had several dogs, and,
connnencing operations about ten o'clock in the fore-
noon, kept up the :port till four in the afternoon,
when it was found that they had brought down eight
goats. To any one acquainted with the locality, it is
scarcely necessary to say that the sport was of the
most exciting character. The party had not only to
-exhibit the utmost watchfulness in order to come upon
the animals, but they had to exercise the utmost care
that they themselves did not mica their footing, and
thereby nuke a pluLge-bath of the Moray Faith,
which washol the rocks over which they clambered.
Notwithstanding the number killed on this occasion,
the herd still remains in great force, and should any
of our southern friends be anxious for a day's sport, of
a much more exciting nature than grouse shooting or
deer stalking, we think we may safely promise them
a cordial welcome, unless, indetd, in the interim, a
Bill be introduced and passed through the Legisla-
ture, declaring goats to be game, and ranking them
in the same category with " woodcocks,snipes, quails,
landrails, wild ducks, or conies."—Banffshire Journal.

LITERPOOL.--.TnE THREATENED FLOOD.—Our
readers are aware that during the last weekortwo ex-
pectation
hhapsrbeedeienteodn
btyiptaoeprinofersesfeorrenocf reference
toaflood which
mathematics at
moon being coincidentally ma post 1011 such as would
Lymington, us a necessary consequence of the sun and
originate a great tidal wave of unusual height about
this date. Throughout the country alarm has been
including Mr. Airy, Professor Nichol!, and Sir
ng
oe nwenreadl and, although astronomers royal sad re-
W. A. Hamilton, endeavoured to dispel the presumption
arrarivatieelnlmrdsso:sbyto)i:daetel
generallycb oe a comforted.
st , and established
oi
nni
instituted
ihttluehntebesadonPi I;kuesb
andl euf
air
uimrht
bordering on
refused
were
truhoeseevsce
rrtayo:
render their minds to incredulity touching the flood.
Curiosity was at least excited to unusual li s'iness, the
more especially as the stormy and perturbed character
of atmospheric phenomena seemed to forebode some un-
usual movement in the domain of nature. The sensation
iu Liverpool was not less strong than elsewhere, we be-
lieve; and on Saturday numbers sought the piers to gaze
upon the river, only, however, to meet with di,appoint-
went. The flood ran high, and its bosom rol ed and
heaved wildly before the force of a swift and strong wind
from the north-east; but the piers were not submerged,
the leviathan landing -stago did not dra,, its an,hors, nor,
when the waves had ebted, wag it found, like the ark en
Ararat, I),i-cited upon the to,) of :he George's Bathe. In
short, the Mersey wes us quiet and as orderly as could
be desired by those whose property lay upon its banks.
Still, kowever, the springs of the two succeeding days
have yet to be encountered; and certainly their estimated
level is higher than that of past tides.—Liverpool Alb on,
THE EXPECTED HIGH TIDES.—BRISTOL.
hien 11, ' thl.t -this morl)iT.g', tide
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