Story 3--Chapter II.
Reginald, with Power and Anson, as soon as they had seen the Squire off, hurried back to the Brocas—some fields on the banks of the river. The rapidly-flowing stream passes by them, and on its smooth but somewhat sedgy current all sorts of boating were taking place, and Reginald was quickly initiated into a knowledge of the variety of craft used by the boys. As he was very well up to boating, he found no difficulty in the matter.
“Here, you see,” said Power, “we have one ten-oared and six eight-oared boats. Any boy in the Fifth form may join them. There is another upper and four lower Fifth-Form boats. We speak of the three upper and four lower boats. There is a captain for each of them, and he selects his crew from among the fellows who wish to join. You observe that the crew of each boat has a different uniform, and on grand occasions, when all appear in full dress, we flatter ourselves that we appear to great advantage. Besides these, there are what we call outriggers, and tunnies, and tubs; and, of course, you will at once have one of them.”
“Which do you intend to be, Warrender, a ‘dry bob,’ or a ‘wet bob’?” said Anson, coming up to them. “I hope the latter.”
Reginald did not exactly know what this meant; but as Anson had given him a hint, he answered, “Oh, of course a wet bob.”
“Oh, ah, that’s the swell thing. I am glad of it. I thought you were the sort of fellow for wet-bobbing.”
Reginald found that wet-bobbing consisted in paddling about in a boat of one’s own, even though it might be only a “tub,” or dinghy.
“But, I say, can you swim?” asked Anson; “because you know that you will not be able to boat till you have ‘passed.’”
“What’s passing?” asked Reginald.