92 A YEAE OF LIBEETY ; OR, 



All this time we were lolling lazily in tlie sweet green fern, whilst 

 the gnats sang to the accompaniment of Willie's bagpipe ; but now 

 another sound, compovmded of sucking, sighing, and splashing, made 

 itself heard among the sedges. Curious to see what was the matter, 

 I walked quietly to the margin ; there hundreds of roach were 

 swallowing the Mayflies, gobbling the caddis, and amusing them- 

 selves in various ways, every now and then flying off at a tangent as 

 a perch sailed past, with his bright mischievous eye, and spears set 

 ready for battle. A trace was rigged, for bottom-fishing by the time 

 our quiet steady guide had scratched up some woims, with which we 

 stepped into the boat, and pushed a few fathoms from the shore, 

 leaving Willie, who had a mortal aversion to the whole family of the 

 Lumbrici, to do as he pleased. Twick, twick, twick first enters a 

 small perch, next a smaller, then a fine one over a pound. The 

 deserted professor, too, thought it worth his while to be up and 

 doing. Eoach were a new study, and he set to work zealously, in 

 order to improve the occasion, by dapping or sinking and drawing 

 with the Drake. His acquisition of knowledge was rapid ; every 

 two or three minutes a silvery flash showed how well he was getting 

 on. A couple of hours at this style of thing was enough to give a 

 dinner to twelve little boys, at a rate of eight per head. This lavish 

 extravagance brought its own punishment ; henceforward we were 

 regularly waylaid on our return by the entire youthful population, 

 who seemed to consider your scribe as a keeper who was bound to 

 supply " the house." Ambushes were artfully constructed in 

 unexpected places, and on several occasions happy was I to escape 

 utter spoliation. In these moments of peril, our boatman was a host 

 in himself a finer or more sturdy fellow you could not find between 

 the Land's End and Cape Wrath. He spoke honestly, reasoned 

 correctly, wrote a fair hand, and, what is more, spelt well an 

 accomplishment by no means necessarily attendant on caligraphy. 

 He was not one of your plastic Larrys or Micks drawn by writers 

 of funny Irish stories ; he was something much better a brave, 

 straightforward man, and, I believe, a fair specimen of his time and 

 class ; if so, the land has reason to be proud of her sons. The witty, 



