DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 6l 



float's going round and round the eddy without a sign 

 of interference. To make sure the minnow I had put 

 on the hook had not escaped, she Hfted her rod until 

 he came to view, and then the float went on its journey- 

 ing again until, with patience exhausted, she laid down 

 the rod and asked, 'Why has the pool so altered? 

 It does not seem the same.' It did not, for when we 

 left it, a short half-hour since, the fish were feeding 

 in all directions and the surface of the water was 

 covered with overlapping rings that were frequently 

 broken through by shadows of flitting birds. Now 

 over everything there seemed to have fallen the hush 

 of sleep. I suggested lunch, but curiosity — not mine 

 — insisted on my peeping to see if there were any 

 perch near the hook. I did as I was bid, with my 

 stronger eye focussed throrigh bent fingers, but I could 

 see only one fish, a perch, and that so diseased that in 

 its apparently bhnd wanderings it had great difficulty 

 in keeping from toppling over to the wrong way up. 



'What do you see that interests you so?' 



*A poor old humpbacked perch attacked by fungus/ 

 was my reply. 



'Let me see,' and so it came about that another 

 pair of arms came next to mine upon the wall to 

 rest a chin on. The cruel parasite showed white 

 upon the gills and fins of its victim and readily attracted 

 notice. 



'Oh, Phil, how fearful is old age and decrepitude 

 forsaken; they have all left him. Ugh ! What an 

 end ! I'd sooner death came here and now while I'm 

 young and cared for, wouldn't you?' 



'What's that, Nell? How can we die young when 

 we have been married folk these thirteen years? 

 And how about the bairns, little woman?* 



'Oh yes, what a selfish thought ! I will not think 

 like that again.' 



There was silence for a time; then quite suddenly, 

 'Thirteen and seventeen are only thirty, sir, and I have 



