i88 SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



conveyance that he could find, into Cheshire, and 

 finally took up his abode at Parkgate, where he took 

 a bit of a little farm, and there he pulled up his boat 

 on shore, and was ready for all emergencies when 

 wind and weather permitted him to get his little craft 

 afloat. 



He was the happy possessor of what is called a 

 float, which is a flat, low-sided affair, much in the 

 shape of a low coffin, sharp at both ends, without any 

 kind of deck, and the sides certainly not standing 

 more than three inches out of the water ; and in this 

 he used to navigate his own precious carcase and a 

 gun, that weighed about seventy pounds. At the 

 bow of this dangerous craft there used to be a pair 

 of wings, or screens made of board, covered with 

 rushes, which he could set open at pleasure, and 

 which were so formed as to hide the punt from the 

 birds. All this was very well in a Fen drain, or a 

 ditch, but in any place where there could be any lop 

 or ripple, I don't see how he managed not to get 

 drowned. I never, however, heard that he did come 

 to a watery grave. 



I remember that when out one fine, still, moon- 

 light night we were all standing together, deliberating 

 whether we should go home or not, as the night was 



