ut,
"your money or your life;" the usual response being "Go along, ye
bulldogs," the name by which we were commonly known throughout the
country side.

On one of these return journeys, while skating in single file, we
approached the third lock, and the boy in front forgetting that there
would be no ice for a few yards below the lock, because the water there
was kept in agitation by the stream always falling from the lock,
suddenly found himself floundering in an icy cold bath, while himself in
a state of great heat. The shock, and the fact that he was cumbered by
his skates, made him almost helpless, and he would probably have been
drowned, but that a fine fellow (I give his name, Edward Sharpe, for he
has long ago put "off this mortal coil"), who was a great athlete,
plunged in, skates and all, regardless of the risk, and like a
Newfoundland dog, panting brought his friend to shore, with no worse
effects than the drenching to both. And here I may say that one of the
accomplishments specially encouraged by the Doctor was that of swimming;
the very youngest were taught to swim by the Under Master, in a small
pool in the river Bain, called "Dead Man's Hole," about 100 yards from
the first lock of the canal. After gaining proficiency we bathed in the
canal and lockpit itself. The Doctor gave a reward of 5/- to any boy who
could dive across the canal, the same sum when he could swim 100 yards on
his back.

On one occasion a bully, among the bigger boys, threw a timid little
fellow into the lockpit when full, saying "Now, you'll learn to swim, or
sink." The little fellow did sink, rose to the surface, and sank again;
and would certainly have been drowned, but a shout from other indignant
youngsters, looking helplessly on, brought the same Edward Sharpe to the
rescue (he was bathing below the lock, not aware of what was going on),
and he at once plunged into the lock, dived to the bottom (18 or 20
feet), and brought up the poor half-conscious boy, who would otherwise
have perished.

It may here be mentioned that the present writer once swam from the
junction of the two branches of the canal (close to the present bathing
place) to the first lock, then passed on and swam to the second, and so
continuing, swam to the third lock, his clothes being carried by a school
fellow who accompanied him; this being a distance of some two miles, for
this the Doctor rewarded him with 10/- and a whole holiday. He also, it
may be add