49 



CHAPTER V. 



OUR FRED AND HIS HEAD NURSE. 



AS I shall soon be taking leave of Aline and 

 removing myself to Soval, it is only fit 

 and proper that, before doing so, I should give 

 some account of that distinguished firm, the 

 joint tenants of the Aline shootings. They 

 consisted of F. M., R. M., and myself. 



I think there are few who know F. M. who 

 will not allow (himself among the number) that 

 Lucina, at his birth, turned into the goddess of 

 good luck. I will give but one small instance 

 of this, and then pass on. When a subaltern, 

 quartered at Gibraltar, he kept a small yacht, 

 in which he disported himself by sometimes 

 going over to the Barbary coast to shoot wild 

 boars or anything he could get. In one of 

 these expeditions he was caught by a pleasant 

 Mediterranean squall, which blew his sails, 

 masts, and rigging anywhere, smashed his 

 rudder, and carried his oars overboard, leaving 

 himself and his boy sitting in his half-swamped 



E 



