The Hotel Skiff.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1888, 16 April 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Hotel Skiff.

A man wifh orange eyes thought he would take a girl, with whom he had been playing tennis, out for a row. So he engaged one of tbo publio boats a&ip.chad to tho hotel. He hsd never used one of the3o boats before, and did not know that they weigh two hundred pounds apiece, withcut including the twelve pounds of paint put on every ecasoD. He wa3 rUo in blhtt ul Jiißorcnca of tha fact that the two oars comjecte-3 with iha edtiibli&hiuent came within five pour.de of SBoh other in weight, u\' (hat tho average wfighi of each wad something like tweuvj ponnde. Bat when he got nut a little way, and foun<* tha boat 'aihng abou' iv n circle, ha concluded tbat ono oar 'vts about esven pounda heavier than Ihs cthis, &bd it wouid be necesaary ti rnw uui'jh more gently on the heavy t!>an on tho light oae to atlaia anything like a etra'ght coarse. Tbo boat ) to be sure, was not equipped with a rudder, and the girl would lean oveie to allow her lily fingers to trail in the water, and then the wind would come up nnd causa the water-logo'ed craft to bead in a different direction.

To secure a efcrnight course, It would require a mathematical calculation which no oarsman could work cut in his head, for ht> would have to oonsider the diffairsnii weights of the girl, boat, and oars, aa well aa the foroa of wind, resistance of water, etc. The man's orange eyes grew larger, vrbilo the oar-handles took tho palms, and occasionallycrnckedhi3 knuckles like so many English walnuts.

It ought to bave been consoling to him to know that the girl in the stern of the boat was enjoying the row and the beautiful surrounding?. " Oh, let'B go over to that lovely island," she eaid.

He did hia best to appear delighted with the idee, but hia orange eyes began to dilate, and bia heart felt as sore a3 bio oar-bruised knuckles. But he started for the island, which seemed three or four hundred fees distant, when, in reality, it was about two miles. It was the apparent laok of dietsnoe that lent enchantment to the view, but the enchantment vanished like his cuticle *is ha rowed on. B 7B 7 tha way ho was turning abouS he would have to row probably six miles before reaching the island, co bo headed the boat for tho mainland. c

'•You are col pointing toward the island at all, now," she said. " By rowing toward tho mainland," he replied, " wo ahall reach the island sooner, because thia boat ia turning so continually that we make the greatest headway by going in the opposite direction."

"Yes,"' Blie replied, "but we are going away from the island all the time. Wo shail be baok on shore in ten minutes if you keep on." '•Excuse ms," ho went on, "but do you notico my eyes growing larger?"

jLclr.

" Tims oonfivrn3 me in tha opinion tbat I have a fit oomiDg on, aud must get ashore as soon as possible." Sj, r.Uer a violent effort, duricp; whiohthe girl was frightened half to death, he reeohed tho shore. Jjh hid no fi», but he had the. B&li-fsc:iGn of kuowiuy Hurt ihal girl would nevtr abk him to row hrr oi^uin, and tl a' she would tell the other girls, and ho wouid no more ba & victim of the hos^l boat — the fas poodla tf the lake i:i contradistinction to the Cunardcr which ia the greyhound of the sea.

1 It ia luuky I can make ray orange eyes bulge a 5 will," he mud, alter relating the circumstance to a fritnd.

•'•Lst'n sse you mike thera bulge dojp," asked his friend.

So he bulged hi' orange eyes until they looked like a ccupli of hard-boiled eggs, Bhel'ed, and cat iv half lengthwise.

GaYalrj liidifig Drill.

The first riding lessor: usually takes placa in the •' riding echool," where, an the floor is ooverc-r! with " tun," ths rf cruiS who comes eff will fail softly. The military authorities don't w&nt their recruits Is.id up in hospital. The firet leseion consiala of hading the horae around tho riding echool ; to that tha axiom of learning to creep before walking is slightly modified here, for the recruit learns to walk hia horse before ridiughim. When he has led hia horse around for a while, the horse's head is brought in from the boards (».<., the walla of the echool), and the recruit ia taught to "stand at e&sa" and to step from Bide to side of his horse'o fore feet in meaßured paces. Then comes the " mount;" and usually the unfortunate recruit has no Bconer got up on one side than he rolls over on the other, owing to the vagaries of hia horse, who knows that be has a recruit in band sad takes advantage cf it. Presently the order is given to " march ;" and away file the horses around tha sohcol walls, many of the recruits thinking that horseflesh is very perverse in rubbing itfl Bile against ths gcbcol WF.II with the recruit's leg for a buffer. The day when I got my first ridifg leason many of us etarttd off by pulling on our horses' mouths, and got (to quote our rough rider) " all ovrr the shop like a pack oi sheep." After a few turns round— during which the ''rough" taught us the aids to horsemanship ia the preliminary Btages ot the " walk" — we learned thaS we were not to " pull our horses' hpads off," but to handle the reins gently by feeling them with our wrists and not with our whole arms. All we had to do (we were toJd) was to sit there and keep cur bodies upright with our ohests forward, by hollowing the back and drawing in cur stomach?, ac well as to keep our " china eff our etocka" and our heads up.

Wa began to see that learnir,g to ride was no tnfl.Dg job. When it came to fixing out l'-gp, getting them well back, raking our tees and sinking our kstla, we pot more to do than wo ever bargained for. Your teacher ia a bard man to please ; and I'm sure that by cheer practice recruits &t Canterbury have got all tbc-ir s'omachn pressing up against their diaphrsgma. Otherwise how do they muster such Bin all waists and such pigeoulikcchcfcta? Trie fact is that lung 3, heart, liver, ssomach, and spleen are all packed together cheet»ard, like a tin of Australian mutton. Whether nature ever intended such cramming is a question that the military authorities don't Btudy. Make your men as wooden ag possible — never mind nature — is their diclum ; snd certainly they are listened to After we had done a littio walking aroncd the ridirg echool, we got more confiJence; and thought, no doubs, that V7C should like a bit of a " trot," just 10 see what tbat was like. When it did come to trotting many of ua fell off, or nearly fell off, and we W6nt hobbling nrcund the sohooi — to quote our rough-rider pgain — " like v lot of stuffed dolls jidin^ yer horses from nose to otoup." And certainly many of us were more often on cur horses' withers and haunches than on the centre of their backs, and wo held cur arms more often around their necks ibsn holding our reins. The 11 roush"' called v i to a halt, »nd even hero we were at fnulc. Some of us pulled too much, or we pulltd too little, or we pulled awry, with the result tbat our horses were ''all over the ehor." When at last we had stopped, our friend the " rough" again let us knew a bit

01 hiu mind about our first appearance aB

} cavalrymen. He " never caw euch a bloom» ing lot of isaes in all hia born days; my old mother could ride better than you," <ftc. He had probably told the Barae yarn to generations of recruits; but really we believtd that

wo were a Bet of cut-and-out duffers.

After a few months' riding drill the cavalryman learcs to ride bis horse at all paceß ; and when he can take him through the turns, circles, and windings of the menage drill, and knows how to use his 11 aimo" mounted, he is fit to call himself a real cavalryman and is ready to go and Sght bis countffs wars when he p.ets a obance If the rsader wants to learn more oi cava fy c-vaitat on, be bad better jain A lew monthi ' drill will teach bim all tint he ttUl caret' i«*n-