78 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



The hint was tatken, and I was soon back to my 

 fishing where live pollards form a willowy crescent, 

 and make the water look dark and deep, as it was 

 there my hopes of fish were centred. Under the 

 aged senior of the five, that struggles on a mere 

 skeleton of skin and crust, my life's partner, after 

 a while, came and sat, working at some trifle and 

 chatting to me; and so, no doubt, the afternoon 

 would have passed had we been the sole occupants 

 of the meadow, but our work was interfered with 

 by a visit that ended in two ladies walking off leaving 

 me baiting a hook for Mrs Ted, who confided to me the 

 highly important news : 'Ted is a regular bear at 

 times.' 



Had a fish resulted from each baiting our fishing- 

 would have been a great success, but only two Jiad 

 come to bank when a dark sultriness, followed by 

 big drops of rain, caused each lady to seek the partner 

 whose chief duty is her protection. Mine was with 

 me quickly, and, after much persuasion, she stepped 

 inside the hollow trunk against which she had sat 

 earlier in the afternoon, and, when there, I tucked 

 her in, and turned her collar up until nothing below her 

 nose was visible, so I made a peck at that and said, 

 *If you could only see how pretty you look in that 

 rustic shell you would never want to come out while 

 any one was looking on.' There came a rumbling 

 that was followed by a flash and the tree was empty 

 in a moment. 



I see its round bright yellow cupboard now and 

 hear the Devon voice pleading to be taken from 

 amongst the trees. Lightning was her greatest terror, 

 and it would have had to be such love and fear as 

 startles mothers into daring to bring or keep her near 

 trees when thunder rolled. So it was into the open 

 she ran to stand the tempest out, and, while she was 

 there, the lightning flashed and quivered in the dark- 

 ened skv, and the thunder that followed it, ever more 



