SPORT AT THE VARSITIES 147 



hour required. The steps of some one descending the 

 staircase from the apartments of old Dr Cravan, the master 

 of the college, were heard by the quick ear of the giver of 

 the revel, ' For heaven's sake, gentlemen, get out of my 

 rooms, or I shall be sent down ! ' he cried. The com- 

 batants were with some difficulty torn asunder, the head 

 of the ex-quartermaster being rescued from beneath the 

 left arm of the Brighton coachman, who had succeeded in 

 getting it into ' chancery,' and the whole party effected a 

 retreat through the courtyard to the porter's lodge, and 

 gained the street. Here the combat was renewed, and 

 might have lasted some time had it not been announced 

 by certain flying parties, who had probably been cele- 

 brating similar orgies elsewhere, that the proctors were 

 on the alert, upon which warning there was a general 

 ' skedaddle.' " 



This Mr Vaughan was, for five-and-forty years, one of 

 the lions of the University of Cambridge, and became so 

 popular at the Bell with the undergraduates that the 

 authorities prevented his licence being renewed ; after which 

 he drove the Cambridge " Up-Telegraph " every morning 

 from the Sun in Trumpington Street, half-way to 

 London, and drove the " Down-Telegraph " from the half- 

 way point to Cambridge every afternoon. Dick Vaughan 

 was a great cocker, and one day invited the writer I have 

 quoted to visit his cockpit. " I proceeded," says the 

 latter, "to mount a ladder which was lowered from the 

 reception-room for the admission of those who had the 

 entree, and was pulled up again to prevent the intrusion 

 of the uninvited. Mr Vaughan was in his shirt-sleeves, 

 which were rolled up, disclosing a pair of long, bony arms, 

 smeared with blood. In his hands he held a favourite 

 ' black-breasted red,' which he was preparing to launch in 

 mortal combat against a ' duck-wing,' for which another 

 individual known as ' Scotch George ' acted as second. 

 Around the pit, which was formed of newly cut turf, 

 was assembled a mixed company. Town and Gown, all 

 eager for the fray, and busy at backing the bird they 

 fancied. The contest terminated in the death of ' the 

 duck-wing,' followed by a yell of exultation from 



