694 



THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



evidently preparing the boat for som3- 

 tiiing beyond the usual fishing trip, and 

 as plainly displeased and put out by my 

 appearance. He was a big, slouching, 

 loosely-made man, with a most forbidding 

 countenance, scarcely improved by an 

 enormous bunch of currants on his right 

 cheek, called in Devon a " langing mark," 

 which, in the f i uit season, glowed a bright 

 red, but at other times was a dirty pink, 

 and gave him a most sinister appearance. 

 He had, on all occasions, silently reseated 

 my presence in the boat, which did not 

 either lessen or increase the intense dis- 

 like with which I regarded the man. He 

 at first evaded my questions, but when 

 pressed grudgingly mentioned something 

 about "Ogydent," which 1 had already 

 made out to be the Devonshire readir^g of 

 Aguadiente — the brandy which the fisher- 

 men got from Portuguese ships encoun- 

 tered in mid-channel by the conger boats, 

 in fact, the Portuguese Ean-ie-vie. The 

 fishermen tad cauglit tl:e word fi-om the 

 Portuguese s iilors, and used it as a general 

 term for foreign liquor. Smelling a rat I 

 left my sulky fri^end and sought Lorane, 

 who soon informed me that he was off to 

 Brest for a cargo of brandy, and hoped to 

 8' art the next night ; that he expected a 

 spell of dirty weather, and hoped lo run 

 in somewhere about Hall sands at a date 

 which he specified ; and that if I would 

 hi down then with my dog I might be of 

 great help. He could tell me no more, 

 and I spent the afternoon on the lea 

 whipping for roach, till I had filled my 

 basket— a very deep one, made in Havre 

 oL peeled osiers —twice over. I had never 

 seen such feeders ; they literally fought 

 each other for the fly ; and as they averaged 

 three-quarters of a pound each 1 had the 

 landing net full every five minutes. They 

 were in fine season, too, but the bones were 

 far too numerous for me to attempt their 

 deglutition, so I handed over the lot to 

 some of the Torcross boys, who received 

 them with shouts of delight, and took 

 home a brace of moorhens which I inten- 

 ded for supper ; but so fishy was the 

 flavour that I was glad to fall l)ack upon a 

 tin of potted wheat-ears, which my dear old 

 grandmother had sent from Cornworthj, 

 and which were simply delicious. 



And now I must tell the reader some- 

 thing of my dog " Major," who had been 

 swimming up and down the lea hunting for 



trimmers, and had brought back two flae 

 pike, which had lately spawned, and were 

 given to the pigs, who seemed to enjoy 

 them. As "Major" was the produce of 

 a Newfoundland of the smaller and im- 

 proved breed, crossed with a notable Irish 

 setter, he, of course, belonged to that im- 

 portant section of the canines in which, 

 from the noisy little cocker to the noble 

 St. Bernard, we find that combination of 

 nose and brain, of scent and intelligence, 

 which gives to the spaniel its principal 

 value and attraction. He was bred in the 

 kennels of a neighbouring square, from 

 whose keeper I purchased him, partially 

 trained and, fortunately, unspoilt. 



I was at Oxford then, and the appear- 

 ance of dogs in Quad, was strictly for- 

 bidden ; and to see " Major," in the 

 corner of the entrance archway, taking a 

 careful survey to ascertain that the space 

 was clear of Dons, and, when satisfied, 

 making a rush for my staircase, from the 

 window of which he would watch for my 

 arrival, or that of my scout, with a patience 

 little less than sublime-to see this was 

 to confess that instinct is on the same 

 plane as reason, and but little inferior. 



I have often dropped half-a-crown 

 in the gutter just outside Magdalen, 

 and sent "Major" back from the 

 " Mitre,"' to which he has returned with 

 the missing coin in his mouth. And when 

 he had been engaged in any mischievous 

 prank, such as barking at the Proctor and 

 his suite of " bulldogs," or flying at the 

 velvet sleeve, which kindled a pecu- 

 liarly savage and unnatural wrath (the 

 wonder of all but the initiated who had 

 ])ev;n present at the training), or in other 

 acts of insubordination repugnant to the 

 statutes, he would, instead of claiming 

 his master's protection, dash out of town 

 through the bye-ways of Holywell and 

 the parks, give his pursuers a fine run 

 over the Cherwell meadows, and when he 

 had led them half way to Islip, grassed 

 them in slimy ditches, or all but drowned 

 them in the river, he would return in the 

 dark to New College, and quietly await 

 the arrival of of some belated under- 

 graduate to obtain entrance ; when he 

 would either slink along under the wall 

 to my staircase, or betake himself to the 

 precincts of the Junior Common Room, 

 where he always found a welcome and 

 ample supply of food. 



