68 A Sportsman at Large 



considerable muscular activity. But I should imagine that 

 the one accomplishment above all where " hands " are sine 

 qua non is that, which to me is a mystery on which I look 

 with reverential aw r e and unbounded admiration the art of 

 the flying pilot in the air. I have no technical knowledge or 

 experience whatever in this direction ; but surely I am right 

 in supposing that it is work for " hands " in excelsis ! Oh, 

 those wonderful boys ! 



I have never heard it said of an angler that he has " good 

 hands," yet here is a case where undoubtedly such a pos- 

 session is of inestimable value, whether he is exercising the 

 Waltonian art in its highest form (which he asserts is dry-fly 

 fishing) or whether he is making Herculean casts with a treble 

 gut cast, and a sixteen-feet rod, in an offensive launched 

 against the lordly salmon. 



In either case, it is not only the subtlety of the attack 

 which needs " hands " ; but if haply the victim has attached 

 itself, they come most insistently into requisition when 

 reducing the struggling fish to that state of sweet reasonable- 

 ness which makes him amenable to net or gaff. 



The " slipper " in the coursing field needs " hands " to 

 deliver his charges smoothly and evenly. Lacking this 

 advantage he is apt to jerk them off their feet and put them 

 out of stride. And what sort of claim to distinction would 

 the aristocratic sportsman of the Four in Hand Club possess 

 unless so gifted ? But with " hands " of the right quality 

 and hearts in the right place, the man, the woman and the 

 child need fear neither material nor moral opposition. 



These are mere academic generalities. It is time I returned 

 to actualities. 



At last the Lent races were toward and the stage was set 

 for a game quite new to me ; but one which I had looked 

 forward to with unbounded enthusiasm. So I was in a high 

 state of excitement when I embarked my crew five minutes 

 before gun fire. 



We were fourth in the long line of the Third Division. 

 The boat immediately in front of us, if I remember rightly, 

 was Clare II. Magdalene was head of the Division, and I 

 think it was Downing which came next. 



