224 EAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



this yere soup ; you can bet your bottom dollar on that, 

 young man/^ I did not cultivate that lady^s acquaintance 

 any more. 



A rifle match at Wimbledon and San Mateo are two 

 very different affairs. I^he two competitors at the latter 

 place were a doctor and a judge. The doctor shot with 

 a rifle, without any exaggeration, as thick as my forearm; 

 the bore was about the ordinary Enfield size, and the bullet 

 solid and conical, with the tip cut off square. It had a 

 telescope running the whole length of the barrel, two 

 spirit levels, a pendulum or two, and it altogether re- 

 minded me of Mr. Samuel Weller's description of a 

 *' double magnifying patent gas rifle of hextra power.^' 

 Of course the implement was shot from a large rest. The 

 other young arquebuss was much of the same calibre. 

 The distance, if I remember rightly, was one hundred 

 and seventy yards, and the shots were measured by the 

 carton system, i.e., by taking the average distance from 

 an exact centre. Twenty shots, I think, were fired, and 

 their mean value was two and a half inches or thereabout 

 — a capital performance, but, considering all the pre- 

 cautions taken, I should say a Henr}^ rifle ought to do as 

 good. 



In the evening a good deal of free fighting took place. 

 Among others an Irishman and a long Yankee set to in a 

 regular rough and tumble — chairs and tables flying. As 

 they were under the table rolling over and over like dogs, 

 I suggested that they ought to be parted. "No, sir,^-* 

 said the judge ; " you have now, sir, an excellent oppor- 

 tunity of observing the pertickler customs of the two 

 hemispheres. I lay a dollar on Tank.^'' A terrific howl- 

 ing now arose from the two combatants, and, on getting 

 up, the Irishman had one eye gouged out, and the Yank 



