Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895 Part 7

"I guess I did not," admitted the ex-Pirate. "But it was the Sheep's fault; he put it out of my mind."

By this time the excitement had abated, and the animals were scattered in groups again. The Dachshund went waddling about the floor on his short crooked legs, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of the Storks and Cranes, who still had long straight legs, and Tommy said,

"Well, I never knew before how it happened that those dogs had such funny legs." But the Gopher said nothing, and still trembled for fear some one would find out he had come in through the trap.

The wind was blowing fiercely outside, and as it howled around the corners and under the eaves of the Ark it sounded notes like those of an aeolian harp.

"Music, isn't it?" remarked Tommy. "It sounds like a fiddle."

The ex-Pirate almost jumped off the rafter.

"Fiddle!" he exclaimed. "Who said fiddle? Is there a fiddle on board? If there is, I'm going to jump!"

"I did not say there was a fiddle on board," remonstrated Tommy. "I said it _sounded_ like a fiddle."

"Oh!"

"What are you so afraid of a fiddler for?"

"If I tell you you will easily understand," answered the ex-Pirate, with a deep sigh.

"Well, tell us. Is it interesting?"

"Yes, and I can give it to you in rhyme. Will you have it in four verses or in six?"

"I guess four will do," answered the little boy, and he leaned over and pulled the Gopher up closer. "Come and hear the poetry," he said.

The ex-Pirate turned toward his audience on the rafter, and recited:

"There once was a fiddler whose name was McPhee, And he fiddled, he fiddled, did he.

He fiddled so loud and he fiddled so long That the neighbors all thought there must be something wrong With this fearful old fellow, this fiddler McPhee, For he fiddled, he fiddled, did he.

"So one day the neighbors all went up to see What the cause of this unceasing fiddling could be.

They appointed committees to go in and speak In behalf of them all to this fiddling freak, Who had fiddled all day and all night for a week; But their efforts all failed with this frightful McPhee, Who fiddled for fun, he fiddled, did he.

"The first man to face the fiddler McPhee Was a fat little fellow, who said, 'Sir,' said he, 'You fiddle all night and you fiddle all day, You fiddle and fiddle your whole time away; Won't you tell us the reason why all this should be?'

But the fiddler still fiddled, he fiddled, did he.

"But finally, while fiddling, he said, 'Sir,' said he, 'You will greatly oblige me by letting me be; All your fussing and fretting and fuming,' said he, 'Is nothing at all--it's fiddledidee!'

So he kept on a fiddling, this fellow McPhee, And he fiddled, and fiddled, and fiddled, did he.

"And I was one of the neighbors," added the ex-Pirate.

"And did not Mr. McPhee stop?" asked Tommy.

"No. We all had to move. He had a ninety-nine years' lease."

"I don't blame you," said the Gopher.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "LET'S ORGANIZE!... WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT ORGANIZATION?"]

The ex-Pirate was about to propose reciting four more verses when there occurred another commotion, and the Hippopotamus stood up on his awkward hind legs and shouted:

"Let's organize! We ought to organize! What is life without organization? I move we elect a president--"

But before he could express his views any further the Lion walked up to him and buffeted him with his paw, and growled:

"Sit down! If there is any organizing to be done, _I_ will do it. I want you to understand that I am the King of Beasts, and we won't have any presidents this trip."

Whereupon the poor old Hippopotamus rubbed his sore jowls, and waddled slowly off to another part of the room. Then the Lion got up on a big chair, with the Lioness at his side, and made a speech. Tommy and the ex-Pirate could not hear what he said, because they were so far away; but the animals all seemed very attentive and much pleased, for they continually nodded their heads, and at the close of the oration the Gopher, who in some manner had managed to catch every word, waved his sun-bonnet in the air and cried:

"Hooray! We're going to eat!"

"I told you so," whispered the ex-Pirate; and then he suggested to Tommy that they go down to the floor and mingle with the animals, and try to find the Sheep, so as to have a chance at the meal, if that were possible.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]

The lawn-tennis tournament for the Interscholastic champions.h.i.+p of the United States was finished at Newport last week, first honors being carried off by Leonard E. Ware, of the Roxbury Latin School, Boston, Ma.s.s. Ware is, beyond doubt, the best man of the four players who came to represent the schools, and he proved, both by his play in the two interscholastic matches and by the work he has done on various courts this summer, that he has unquestionably the strongest claim to the t.i.tle of interscholastic champion. He defeated both Beaman and Sheldon without any trouble, the latter being the stronger rival, and standing for the full five sets. In the first match Beaman took the first set from Ware, but after that the latter warmed up and had everything his own way.

Sheldon's contest with Waltz was a walk-over for the Hotchkiss School player, as the score will show. The summaries follow:

L. E. Ware } M. G. Beaman } Ware, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3. } } Ware, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, J. P. Sheldon, Jun. } Sheldon, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1. } 6-8, 6-1.

C. F. Waltz }

The best playing Ware did during the entire period of the tournament at Newport was in his match with Foote of Yale, whom he met in the third round. Foote won--4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 8-10, 8-6--but it was a hard-earned victory, and gave the spectators some of the best tennis to watch that the tournament afforded. Ware will undoubtedly rank as one of the leading players of the country next year, and I count on him to hold the national champions.h.i.+p before he gets out of college. His strongest quality seems to be steadiness, and in addition to this he possesses determination and sand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NEWPORT TENNIS COURTS.]

Ware won his first set against Foote by good lobbing and clever side-line strokes. His back-hand strokes along the side-lines were especially fine. In the first game of the second set deuce was called three times before Foote got the score, and several times afterwards there were equally exciting moments. The third set was a love one for the Yale man. He defeated Ware by playing a lobbing game whenever he could. The latter was especially weak in placing his smashes, most of them being returned within Foote's easy reach. This is, no doubt, Ware's weak point, for it was mainly by this that he lost the set.

The fourth set was the most sensational of the five, and it was here that the scholastic player showed the pluck that was in him. In the first game he placed prettily, winning at fifteen, and he scored again in the second by the same tactics, and in the third by wonderful side-line work. Exciting rallies were the features of the next two games, in the latter Ware bringing the score from love forty up to deuce; but after deuce was called four times Foote scored, mainly through his persistent lobbing. Perhaps the best tennis of all was shown in the tenth game, when applause by the spectators was almost continuous. Ware won it, although Foote had him 40-15, and was within one point of the match. Losing that point gave him another set to play.

Eighteen games were required to decide this set, which was the longest and, beyond a doubt, one of the most exciting of the tournament.

The fifth set consumed one solid hour of play, and went to Foote--8-6.

As in the former sets, Ware gave a great exhibition of pluck, and with the score 2-4 against him, tied the figures. It was then nip and tuck until each man had secured five games. At a critical point, however, and one which probably would have altered the result considerably, Ware was unfortunate in getting an obviously poor decision from one of the linesmen. The whole set was largely a question of endurance rather than of proficiency, and in this the older and stronger player naturally excelled.

This Department has been questioned a number of times as to how the racing length of a yacht is determined. As the International Cup races are interesting every sportsman just now, and as the ROUND TABLE this week gives on another page an article descriptive of cat-boat-racing, this seems a particularly apt time to devote a few paragraphs to this very complicated feature of yachting. We all know, of course, that upon the difference between the racing lengths of two yachts depends the time allowance which one boat must allow the other in a contest of speed.

This length is obtained by adding the square root of the sail area to the length of the load water-line, and dividing the result by two. The quotient is the racing length.

The load water-line, which is the distance between the points of the bow and stern, exclusive of the rudder-post, is ascertained as follows: Strip the yacht of everything except what she will carry in the race, and a.s.semble amids.h.i.+ps the crew which is to man her. Then drop a plumb-line from her bow to the water, and measure accurately the distance between the point where the line strikes the water and the intersection of the forefoot with the water. Repeat the same operation at the stern. Then mark off these distances on the deck, the first being measured back from the bow, and the second forward from the stern. The distance between these two points is the length of the load water-line of the yacht. It is measured on the deck, because the rounding of the hull, of course, makes it impossible to get a straight line from bow to stern on the water.

To get the correct sail area requires more labor. It is determined by the dimensions of the spars and those of the jib-topsail stay. If it were not for the length of the gaff a triangle would be formed by the base-line, the stay and the leach of the topsail and mainsail. Then the area could be easily calculated. But the projection of the gaff spoils the triangle, and so the first thing to do is to measure the distance from the end of the boom to the forward side of the mast. From that point measure to a point on the bowsprit half-way between the jib-stay and the jib-topsail stay. These, added together, give the actual base-line. Then take the height of the mast and the height of the topmast. The length of the gaff is next ascertained, and from this is subtracted eight-tenths of the height of the topmast. The difference between these is added to the actual base-line, the result giving the corrected base-line.

Experience shows that this addition offsets very accurately the number of square feet of sail lying between a straight line drawn from the end of the boom to the sheave of the topsail halyards, and--considering that line as a base--the two legs of the triangle extending from the end of the boom to the peak of the gaff, and from the peak of the gaff to the topmast. Then the length of the corrected base-line is multiplied by the height of the mast, taken from the deck to the sheave on the topmast, and the result is divided by two. After obtaining these measurements, proceed as stated above--that is, add the square root of the sail area to the length of the load water-line, and divide by two. Then you have the yacht's racing length. There is no doubt that it is a complicated problem.