DECK GAMES. 33 



mammal did not show the slightest symptoms of even temporary annoyance, and there is 

 reason to believe was not much more hurt by the shots than would the targets at 

 Wimbledon be affected by a shower of peas. 



Occasionally a little diversity and profit are got out of passengers by the sailors when 

 they go for the first time on the fo'castle. The latter draw on the deck a chalk line 

 quickly round the former, and each visitor so " chalked," as it is called, must pay a fine in 

 the shape of a bottle of rum. This secures one, however, the freedom of the ship ever after. 



A CRICKET-MATCH. ON BOARD SHIP. 



One of the deck games popular on long voyages is a form of quoits, played with 

 rings and chalked spaces, or, in some cases, on a spike driven into the deck. A 

 traveller * gives an amusing account of a cricket club formed on the vessel in 

 which he was a passenger. Fancy playing cricket at sea ! He says : " The Lord Warden 

 cricket-ground is on the main deck, and, owing to the somewhat limited space at the disposal 

 of the ten members, single-wicket matches are the invariable rule. The stumps, which 

 are fixed in a frame so as to remain steady on the deck, are about two feet in height, 

 and of course bails are provided, but never used. Of bats the club boasts not a few, of 

 varied construction. Of these the majority are fashioned out of a thick deal plank, and 



* A. W. Guillemard: "Over Land and Sea. A Log of Travel Round the World in 1873-4." 



125 



