io6 SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



drank all my rum-and-water, and just at grey I comes 

 upon a lot of widgeon ; they was sitting as thick 

 together as ever they could sit, and in that gutter 

 that runs from the old distillery you knows it. I 

 pulled, and " Oh, you need not say any more," 



said I, "she missed fire." " Yes, that's it," said Sam, 

 " and I do believe if I could not have sweared I 

 should have heaved her overboard. I suppose it 

 ain't right to swear, but it did seem to relieve me 

 wonderful." 



Old Sam Singer had gone through " the changes 

 and chances of this mortal life >? as much as most 

 men. At one time of day he was a great man, a great 

 authority about gunning in Colonel Hawker's time, 

 and no doubt quite a first-rate hand at wildfowl 01 

 all kinds. He had been to Holland, and in the pay 

 of the Prince of Orange, and come home with 

 a gold watch and chain, which had been presented 

 to him whilst in his service. All this made him 

 hold his head pretty high for a time, and he used 

 to be " a bit of a swell," as he told me himself. 

 He used to shoot a good deal about the Southampton 

 Waters, and was well known to Colonel Hawker, 

 and all gunners about there, as quite an authority. 

 He told me that, when gunners became so numerous 



