Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-04-25

seize MN, disappeared again. III lew
seconds the small head rose once more, and
this time I managedto grasp the little man
by the collar, and, with some trouble, got
him astride of the boat, which lay bottom
upward on the water The rest had by
| this time got ashore, and / now followed
them. leaving little Wingield, by no means
sure Of his seat on the boat, the water
streaming from him on all sides, and alto
gether looking the most comical picture
possible. He was soon rescued by punt /;
and then we all ran hack to, Our. barge to
change our wet flanne1s and keep the cold
off by nip Of brandy at the Boat House
| Tavern g's&ii 81 i1.p a..s. ~ snTc
"Wen, Wingfield, you made rather a
mess of your steering just now" said Hal
| lett; "you and the cox. Of the other boat
| both lost your heads."a' ca III ~ 2
Wingfeld looked very crest fallen. ~ g.,
"Well, never mind" said Hallett; chow
are you now?"
% sob, all right, thank you. You see,I
can't, swim, so was ratheriin a funk at
the time 3gFdG 9it 6etrlcaEo9ai aJHtr
,, "Yes, anybody could see that, remarked
Tip, who had enjoyed the whole thing
immensely. "When you were safe astride
of the boat, you looked just like John Gill
pin when horse ran away - p. t7,.7o.,
=" l hate that fellow Tip" said Wingfield
to me Immediately afterwards, "don't you?
No, of course. you don't, you never hate
anybody, why should you? It's only
small men who've reason to hate; they re
obliged to do It in selfdefence. But, old
fellow, 1 haven't thanked you yet for pull
| ing me out of the watery grave you may
be sure I sha'n't forget it, and I'll pay you
back some day when / get the chance" /
could tell by the tone of his voice that he
meant more than he said. and | felt that
from that day the Ii tie "Torpid'' coxsWain
was the firmest friend had. S2@a
AS we walked up from the river, Baxter
said, Maynard, we've settled that you'll
do for the stroke, and the crew is to go
into training tomorrow. Breakfast in
Hallett's rooms tomorrow morning, and
mind everybody has good walk first.
| Wingfeld, you'll have to see that
all the crew re~of to bed~by~halfpast
ten" Y,r~7YrrT~ arm ,T-.-s.~g ~ 4
| And so the business of training began,
and beef and mutten twice day was our
food for nearly month shall not now
enter into the details of that training; how
chow" was i'll or fancied he was, for three
days, how We're was nearly turned out of
the boat for being out of bed at midnight:
how Wilkinson turned sulky, and spread a
spirit of mutiny among the crew and how
Hilton once ate buttered toast for break
fast, and caper sauce with his boiled NUT
ton, all which particulars however
momentous in the eyes of st. Anthony's
| Torpid then, would doubtless be tedious to
the general reader. Suffice it to say, that
the first day of the races found us in excel
lent fettle and high spirits, and even Bax-
| ter was fain to confess that we had
| I'M oil int no OF
might make bump or two. Does every
body know what is meant by bump ?"
Very likely not. So, at the risk of being
considered bore, shall take the liberty
to explain. o1a~r
The Torpid races are conducted in the
manner following. At the part of the
4 river where the start takes place number
of posts are placed along the bank 100 feet
apart, and by one of these each boat takes
/ its station according to the order of the
previous year, the head boat being the
highest up the river, the second 100 feet
behind it and so on to the last To each
post a rope is made fast, one end of which,
having large bung attached, is held by
the coxswain Of the boat. When the
starting gun fires, the bungs are dropped,
and each boat starts in pursuit of the one
before it. Any boat overtaking another,
SO as to touch any part of it, makes a
bump" Both boats lay out of the way
of those behind, and on the following day
the dumping" boat takes its station
above the bumped" and tries to over
take the next boat and so on through
the six days of the races. With this ex-
PLANTATION the reader will, I trust understand
the, particular races am about to de-
scribe. 'iaf Aa'9t ,s-as tss ~
At two o'clock on one Of those damp,
"muggy" days. which are only too COM
mon in Oxford, the St. Anthony's crew,
clad in white flannel trimmed with the
college colors, walked down to the barge
for their preliminary paddle" Flags
flying on all the barges, and the new uni
forms of the various crews, made the scene
| gay in spite of the sombre hue of the sky,
! but the faces Of the men anxious even to
paleness, showed that there was some seri-
Gus business on hand. 90 sas4.4 s.s..
"Now, then, tumble in you fellows, /"
shouted Baxter You'll want time
to breathe between the paddle and the
race" ts>a.
That paddle did us world of good in
keeping our thoughts off the coming race;
but when it was over, we had still a quar-
ter of an hour to wait before rowing down
| to the start. 1t was terribl quarter of an
hour for me, for being stroke of the boat,
/ felt as if the whole responsibility lay on
my shoulders, and as the minutes-hours
they seemed-went on, the deep red spot
\ in my cheek grew deeper and deeper, and
! a sort of shuddering came over me, till my
teeth seemed to rattle in my head. We all
tried to laugh and chaff as usual, but it
was a CHASTITY attempt, and we gave it up
by mutual consent. nas5f-
"Time to start" sung out Tip at last,
and out we came to the boats side with
right good will. "Where's Number Twoi
That fellows always late; has anybody
seen him 2" e, sA .
"He was loafing down the hank five
minutes ago" said Hilton. f 80 ei
"Then why the deuce didn't you bring
him back? You'll all be late at the start
and have to row up in your coats. ~ ~
Two or three men were dispatched to
find the missing one, but minute after min.
ute went by, and he did not come Hallett
and Baxter had gone down to the start
and Tip, left in charge was wild. t7 i
"Ten minutes to three J; you won't be
down in time the first gun fires at three
all the boats are off, except Brasenose
now. Confound that fellow Verel" and
! Tip was proceeding to use still stronger
language when We're, looking wonderfully
unconcerned, made his appearance
4" I'm afraid / m rather late" he began.
"Late 1 should think Won were
!, Ewhere the deuce have you been? Bu
never mind now jump in and let's get off
~ We had to row pretty fast, for it was
| u -,