Part 14 (1/2)

[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 101]

at once caetic co instruction, ”Put your oar in deep, and bring it out with a jerk!”

Bearing this in mind, our hero's efforts met ell-merited success; and he soon passed that enious systeate its foundations One by one, too, he passed those house-boats which are > arks of toy-shops than anything else, and soinal awith his exertions, Mr

Verdant Green passed the University barge in great style, just as the eight was preparing to start; and though he was not able to ”feather his oars with skill and dexterity,” like the jolly young waterht-of-hand perforreat satisfaction to the crews on the river, but also to the promenaders on the shore

He had left the Christ Church htly exhausted by his unwonted exertions, when he reached that bewildering part of the river ter were the intestine co a chequered existence as an aquatic shuttlecock, and being assailed with a slang-dictionary-full of opprobrious epithets, Mr Verdant Green caught another

[102 ADVENTURES OF MR VERDANT GREEN]

tremendous crab, and before he could recover himself, the ”tub”

received a shock, and, with a loud cry of ”Boat ahead!” ringing in his ears, the University Eight passed over the place where he and ”the Sylph” had so lately disported themselves

With the wind nearly knocked out of his body by the blade of the bow-oar striking him on the chest as he rose to the surface, our unfortunate hero was ied from the water, in a condition like that of the child in ~The Stranger~ (the only joke, by the way, in that most dreary play) ”not dead, but very wet!” and forthwith placed in safety in his deliverer's boat

”Hallo, Gigla Isis in this expensive way!” said a voice very coolly And our hero found that he had been rescued by little Mr Bouncer, who had been tacking up the river in company with Huz and Buz and hisentleled and forlorn condition ”If you'd only a coly like a cross-breed with a mermaid! You ain't subject to the whatdyecallems - the rheumatics, are you? Because, if so, I could put you on shore at a tidy little shop where you can get a glass of brandy-and-water, and have your clothes dried; and then mamma won't scold”

”Indeed,” chattered our hero, ”I shall be very glad indeed; for I feel - rather cold But what am I to do with my boat?”

”Oh, the Lively Polly, or whatever her nah There are plenty of boatmen on the river who'll see to her and take her back to her owner; and if you got her from Hall's, I daresay she'll drealaot wet in rather a more lively style than you've done to-day Now I'll tack you up to that little shop I told you of”

So there our hero was put on shore, and Mr Bouncer made fast his boat and accompanied him; and did not leave hilass of hot brandy-and-water, the while his clothes were s before the fire

This little adventure (for a time at least) checked Mr Verdant Green's aspirations to distinguish himself on the river; and he therefore renounced the sweets of the Isis, and contented hi with a punt on the Cherwell There, after repeatedly overbalancing hith peacefully settled down into the lounging blissfulness of a ”Cherater-lily;” and on the hot days,

[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 103]

aentlehs of the s and li, in ~dolce far niente~ fashi+on, with their legs up and a weed in theirthe last new novel, or soht haply have been discerned the form and spectacles of Mr Verdant Green

CHAPTER XI

MR VERDANT GREEN'S SPORTS AND PASTIMES

ARCHERY was all the fashi+on at Brazenface They had as fine a lawn for it as the Trinityholes in the targets, and endeavouring to realize the ~pose~ of the Apollo Belvidere; - rather a difficult thing to do, when you coy coats As Mr

Verdant Green felt desirous not only to uphold all the institutions of the University, but also to make himself acquainted with the sports and pastimes of the place, he forthwith joined the Archery and Cricket Clubs He at once inspected thefrouard, tips, tassels, and grease-pot, he felt himself to be duly prepared to

[104 ADVENTURES OF MR VERDANT GREEN]

represent the Toxophilite character But the sustaining it was a h he thought that it would be next to iet was so large, and the arroent so easily from the bow, yet our hero soon discovered that even in the first steps of archery there was so of his boas a performance attended with considerable difficulty It was always slipping fro to snap in sunder, or refusing to allow his fingers to slip the knot, or doing so> and productive of perspiration; and two or three ti his friends to string his bow for hiht difficulty, he found that the arrows (to use Mr Bouncer's phrase) ”wobbled,” and had a predilection for going anywhere but into the target, notwithstanding its size; and unfortunately one went into the body of the Honourable Mr Story coat and the bluntness of the arrow, it did not do a great amount of mischief; nevertheless, the vials of Mr Stormer's

[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 105]