46 EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. 



I soon made the acquaintance of Captain 

 Hubbard, commanding my friend's little cutter, 

 the " Fearless/' He was a curious old fellow 

 sixty-five years of age, somewhere about five 

 feet high, and almost as broad as he was long. 

 He looked, in his pea-jacket, like a goodly-sized 

 beer-barrel stuck up on two large sausages. His 

 name "Hubbard" had been dropped, and he 

 always went by his nickname, Captain " Tar 

 Bucket." As he was a first-rate fisherman I 

 did not care a fig about his personal appearance. 



" Going conger ketchen, are you, sir ?" he re- 

 marked. "Well, I'm glad of it. Werry proud 

 to take you about in this little wessel. A nice 

 dry little boat, sir, tight as a bottle. Pitty Mr. 

 Bobert don't go out a little oftener ; but he's 

 always now knocking them balls about [billiards] 

 or running after the gals I means them as goes 

 knocking balls about on the grass, not on a 

 table. Blow me if there's anything but ball 

 playing now ! no fishing, no match sailing, no 

 amoosement of any kind, no pic-nics on the 

 water, nothing a movin'. I reckon I'll 'ave to 

 get the trawl out ? Howsomever, it's all 

 ready. We must get some bait afore we goes 



