Chop into small pieces three or four puntpoles, having first melted
down the metal shoes, and spread thin over as many canoe paddles as
can be obtained for the purpose. Immerse the whole suddenly in
the river and dry before a quick fire. Add one boat's rudder and
twenty-four dab-chicks, and season with three yards of grated swans'
necks, six barbel, four dace and a dozen gudgeon, close time for
these fish being strictly observed. Sprinkle with cowslips and willow
leaves, insert in a pie-dish and cover with a thick paste of bulrushes
and marsh grass. Then set to bake for three hours, and stick four
pigeons' claws into the crust. Picnic baskets from which the salt has
been omitted may be shredded over the surface instead of parsley.
Mr. Punch has many more recipes equally cheap and excellent, and is
prepared to disclose them to those of his readers who may desire to
practise a rigid economy and at the same time to enjoy an abundance of
good food.
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[Illustration: _Recruit_ (_with exercising party_). "IF I LETS THE
BLIGHTERS GO THE CORPORAL'LL CUSS ME INTO 'EAPS. AN' IF I 'OLDS ON TO
'EM I'LL BREAK MY BLINKIN' NECK!"]
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