326 Panic- stricken Fish. 



weight, but one day the tradition was put into the 

 shade b} T the capture of a pike that scaled a little 

 over thirty pounds. There are supposed to be sev- 

 eral more such monsters of the deep, since every now 

 and then some laborer passing by on a sunny day, 

 when jack approach the shore and bask near the sur- 

 face, declares that he has seen one as big as a man's 

 leg. But about the vast number of ordinary-sized 

 jack there can be no doubt at all ; since any one may 

 see them who will stroll by the water's edge on a 

 bright warm day, taking care to walk slowly and not 

 to jar the ground or let his shadow fall on the water 

 before he can glance round the willows and bushes. 

 Jack may then be seen basking by the weeds. 



When an exceptionally long continuance of dry 

 weather forces all the fish to retire to the few acres of 

 water that remain, then these voracious brutes do as 

 they please with the other fish, and the roach espe- 

 cially suffer. Every two or three minutes the fry may 

 be seen leaping into the air in the effort to escape, 

 twenty or thirty at a time, and falling with a splash. 

 The rush of hundreds and hundreds of roach causes 

 a wave upon the surface which shows the course they 

 take. This wave never ceases : as soon as it sinks 

 here it rises yonder, and so on through the twenty- 

 four hours, day and night. 



The miserable fish, flying for their lives, speed 

 towards the shallow water, and often, unable to stop 

 themselves, are carried by their impetus out on the 

 mud and lie there on the land for a few seconds till 

 they leap back again. Even the jack will sometimes 

 run himself aground in the eagerness of his pursuit. 

 Looking over the pool, the splash of the falling fish 



