290 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



might, if the occasion came, say, as a thin patient 

 did when a mustard plaster was being put on : "It's 

 very little meat for so much mustard, doctor." 



The facial features of this much-shrunken man 

 were overhung by a cumbrous crown that belittled 

 every item except the chin, which stretched to a 

 lengthy point and was adorned with a goat-like beard 

 that time had whitened, and a further time had added 

 a yellow tinge to what was white before. This 

 beard was much in evidence for it made a jour- 

 ney from its wearer's right shoulder to his left each 

 time he bent forward to take a stroke and, when he 

 pulled, the beard made the journey back ; and so it 

 went, to and fro, with the regularity of a pendulum. 



After my faith in fairies went (my love for the 

 memory of the one who told me of them will never 

 go) spirits rapped and tables turned in vain, and the 

 ghosts I have seen since then have not alarmed me 

 or even made me curious, but Tony showed quite 

 plainly that when the spirit was willing it needed 

 but little to make things move in merry fashion. 

 To see him row was a revelation, and his manage- 

 ment of the boat when under sail was astounding. 

 He would at times fairly fling himself to get a hold 

 of the rope next the pulley that was up and out 

 from him until all that was left of Tony in the boat 

 was his legs below the knees. Several times when 

 thus extended a freshening puff fairly stretched him 

 and, fearing he would go, I held his trousers legs 

 until he was on board again. He is a fisher, one of 

 the best I ever fished with. It seemed that his 

 experience left nothing unknown to him in this 

 direction. Even our fine lines brought no expres- 

 sion of surprise, but merely a look of pleased 



