Sporting notions of present days and past

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IN FRESH WATER 173
flood. Lying off and waiting in hopes that the
tide might soon turn, I heard a mighty splash at
the back end of a barge. " A precious awkward
diver that must be," says I to the other voyager.
Directly appeared the head and shoulders of a
man clothed as to the shoulders in a jersey, or it
might be the top of a bathing costume. He
didn't swim well, and I thought he was fooling
about. That impression was confirmed when
someone came to the shore and spoke to him. I
was only a dozen yards or so away, waiting to
see the " kidder " start and swim properly. Next
thing I knew was that a man ran into the water
and pulled the " swimmer" out.
I will swear that he might have been drowned
for all that I or the other hand in my boat would
have dreamed of offering to help. I could have
got to him in almost three strokes backing. But
what for
should I
go to him? People who can't
swim do not dive off barges, nor prepare by putting
on costumes or, say, jerseys to swim in. He
certainly did flounder a bit, but not alarmingly;
and I should no more have thought of crossing
Pall Mall and offering my arm to a Guardsman
who walked a trifle lame than of, so to speak,
interfering with the bather. And all the while
my story was wrong from beginning to end.
The poor chap had not dived off the barge. He
had fallen from the bowsprit of a ship next door.
He had not prepared for a bathe, but had been
working in the jersey as I saw him. The mighty
splash (I know an ex-champion who always makes
a tremendous " blosh " on plunging) had knocked
all the wind and some of the sense out of him,
and what we thought and were sure was fooling
about was neither more nor less than his fighting
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