"
And he could not; him then was his companion addressing with
scornful words:
"Arnold, why dost thou strive with me since I am much wiser? Did I
not see his leg before the wicket and rightly declare him to be out?
Thee then has Zeus now punished according to thy deserts, and I will
seek some other umpire of the game equally-participated-in-by-both-
sides."
And in it he placed the Cam, and many boats equally rowed on both
sides were going up and down on the bosom of the deep-rolling river,
and the coxswains were cheering on the men, for they were going to
enter the contest of the scratchean fours; and three men were rowing
together in a boat, strong and stout and determined in their hearts
that they would either first break a blood-vessel or earn for
themselves the electroplated-Birmingham-manufactured magnificence of
a pewter to stand on their hall tables in memorial of their
strength, and from time to time drink from it the exhilarating
streams of beer whensoever their dear heart should compel them; but
the fourth was weak and unequally matched with the others, and the
coxswain was encouraging him and called him by name and spake
cheering words:
"Smith, when thou hast begun the contest, be not flurried nor strive
too hard against thy fate; look at the back of the man before thee
and row with as much strength as the Fates spun out for thee on the
day when thou fellest between the knees of thy mother, neither lose
thine oar, but hold it tight with thy hands.
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