So  Miller,  the  coxswain,  took  to  drawing  the  bow  up  to  the
ear  at  once.  At  the  very  beginning  of  term,  five  or  six  weeks
before  the  races,  the  St.  Ambrose  boat  was  to  be  seen  every
other  day  at  Abingdon  ;  and  early  dinners,  limitation  of  liquids
and  tobacco,  and  abstinence  from  late  supper  parties,  pastry,
ice,  and  all  manner  of  trash  likely,  in  Miller's  opinion,  to  injure
nerve  or  wind,  were  hanging  over  the  crew,  and  already,  in
fact,  to  some  extent,  enforced.  The  captain  shrugged,  his
shoulders,  submitted  to  it  all  himself,  and  worked  away  with
imperturbable  temper,  merely  hinting  to  Miller,  in  private,
that  he  was  going  too  fast,  and  that  it  would  be  impossible  to
keep  it  up.  Diogenes  highly  approved  ;  he  would  have  be-
come the  willing  slave  of  any  tyranny  which  should  insist  that
every  adult  male  subject  should  pull  twenty  miles,  and  never
imbibe  more  than  a  pint  of  liquid  in  the  twenty-four  hours.
Tom  was  inclined  to  like  it,  as  it  helped  him  to  realize  the
proud  fact  that  he  was  actually  in  the  boat.  The  rest  of  the
crew  were  in  all  stages  of  mutiny,  and  were  only  kept  from
breaking  out  by  their  fondness  for  the  captain,  and  the  knowl-
edge that  Miller  was  going  in  a  few  days.  As  it  was,  Blake
was  the  only  one  who  openly  rebelled  ;  once  or  twice  he
stayed  away.  Miller  swore  and  grumbled,  the  captain  shook
his  head,  and  the  crew  in  general  rejoiced.
It  is  to  one  of  these  occasions  to  which  we  must  now  turn.
If  the  usual  casual  voyager  of  novels  had  been  standing  on


108  TOM   BEOWN   AT   OXFOKD.
