ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 49 



Swivel. Do so. And how reckon we our wounds, 

 comrades, after this desperate affair? Any mal- 

 advertences or sanguinary effusions ? any dental 

 infractions "or dislocations of the ossa? the nasal 

 arches uninjured, and no tendons divided ? Thou 

 hast a curtain on thy left eye, Leister, I note; 

 and ho ! Harry Hackle, thou art lame as a modern 

 hexameter; and thou, Tom Otter! But there is 

 nothing like it, boys. 



Hackle. Amen, Doctor! We have come off 

 swimmingly; save the hoof-mark of that drunken 

 behemoth,*! am skatheless as ever. It were better 

 to be maimed outright with an oaken cudgel, than 

 have such a monstrous piece of ordnance as a 

 ganger's leg driven athwart our shins ! 



Swivel. Revenge, Harry, acts as a sweet salve. 

 Here come Gaff and May-fly to retaliate for thee. 

 We will of a truth cool the dog's forehead with thi 

 surcharge of the element ; and, O ye tritons and 

 river-amphitrites, bear a hand! How cozily the 

 rascal lies ; his huge bluster-ball of a skull half sunk 

 in moss. He hath a touch of the Russian autocrat 

 in his countenance. 'Tis a pity he is not a tyrant, 

 and we patriots how neatly we could massacre 

 him! 



Leister. Shame, Doctor ; you have not the heart 

 of a Turk. 



Swivel. Towards this excise-bear, that I have, 

 Jack. We shall jerk off our thunder-plump athwart 



