=J7ie 
     
     last of the merry men had made his reluctant way across the gangplank. 
     
     There was much hilarity, much solo and group vocalizing -- most of it | 
     
     considerably off key; at times, several different selections were bsing 
     
     rendered simultaneously. Presently, someone would produce a mouth organ 
     
     and soon the deck timbers were reverberating to the thunder of scores of 
     
     enthusiastic feet. When they tired of this, there was more singing, 
     
     accompanied by the passing of pocket flasks. About this time, sectional 
     
     ~ pivalries were likely to surface; verbal exchanges were followed by 
     
     challenges to fist fights. During these affrays, the spectators formed a 
     
     ring. Two temporary non-combatants were appointed to see fair play, and to 
     
     halt the proceedings when it became evident that one of the pair was 
     
     getting too much the worse of the encounter. When an engagement ended, 
     
     there followed challenges: from backers of the defeated gladiator who felt 
     
     it their duty to uphold the honor of their district. They were always 
     
     promptly accommodated, with the result that a series of bouts continued 
     
     until the steamer tied up at the bridge. Sometimes the battle in progress 
     
     at the moment of arrival was carried to a conclusion on the wharf. By this 
     
     time, however, most of the revellers had had enough excitement for one day, 
     
     and were beginning to drift off toward home. Apparently, those effairs 
     
     never formed a basis for later Settlement; everyone seemed ready to - forget 
     
     them. They were accepted as essential feutures of the day's outing; 
     
     without them, indeed, the occasion would have been considered dull and 
     
     lacking, in color... (.. itu. . - 
     
    

    
     Shortly after the advent of the Harland, gasoline powered launches 
     
     began to come into use. They ran from Bonshaw to Charlottetown with 
     
     numerous stops at intermediate points, and immediately leaped into popular 
     
     favor. The schedule laid down by the steamship owners had long been the 
     
     cause of resentment among area dwellers. Every effort to have the West 
     
    
   
   
    
     River run changed to a market day had been rejected; the Saturday trip