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CHAPTER XXIV. 



A QUHES CATTVRE. 



On Thursday, the second day of Henley Regatta of 

 1887, the following strange coincidence occurred, and 

 was duly recorded in ' The Field ' at the time. 



Our party was a large one, and during the day had 

 occupied two skiffs until about 8 o'clock p.m., when, 

 upon leaving the water to dine, we decided to moor one 

 of the skiffs to a mass of boats lying off the Red Lion 

 lawn, and leave it there while we all went ashore in the 

 other. 



The mass of boats extended from the lawn and 

 reached across the stream to the first buttress, so we 

 moored the skiff outside them a few yards below the 

 bridge. 



We were away for about an hour and a half and put 

 out to gain the moored skiff, when, as we walked 

 towards the bow to unloose her, we noticed a white 

 object lying in it above the bow thwart, and were about 

 to cast it overboard (thinking that it was a rotten fish 

 of some sort that had been thrown over the wall of the 

 bridge), when, to our astonishment, it commenced to 



