EDITORS WALLET

Otago Witness, Issue 1967, 5 November 1891, Page 45

EDITORS WALLET

Surprising the Admiral. Sailors, like horsemen, have a tendency to become bow-legged, and the peculiarity is not confined to common seamen. An old admiral, whose long sea service had given his legs a decided outward curvature, once had a singular adventure on this account with a ship's pet. The crew of the ship owned a large black spaniel, and took great pains in teaching him to jump. A man, standing up, would put one foot against .his other knee, thus making a. hole for Nep, the dog, to make his leap through. The dog always jumped through the aperture readily, though if his trainer's legs happened to be short, it was sometimes a rather tight squeeze. One day the admiral came aboard from the flag ship on a visit of inspection. Happening to walk to the forward part of the ship, he stood there for a few minutes conversing with the officer who had attended him. Here he was spied by the dog. Nep stood a moment surveying the admiral's bow legs. Suddenly the dog made a rush at the legs, and a mad leap through the tempting gap. . v ... In astonishment at the black tornado that had passed beneath him, the admiral whirled quickly about to see what was the cause. The dog took this action as a signal for an " encore," and Jumped again. Once more the admiral turned, and again the dog jumped. The bewildered face of the admiral and the serious attention of Nep to what he imagined was his business were too much for the gravity of the bystanders, and, forgetting the respect due to rank, they all roared vith laughter. A sailor, however, had enough presence of mind to break from the crowd and catch the dog by the collar. He led him off, and as he did so Nep seemed to wonder why he did not receive' the praise due to such spirited efforts. The excited admiral got but an imperfect explanation of the affair from the spectators, for they could hardly tell him that his legs had been used as a kind of oircus hoop by a forecastle dog. Perhaps to his dying day the occurrence was a mystery to him.