100 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



came back, while at my feet the dace were flopping 

 that were to be with me on the bank of a river where 

 pike grow quickly to a great size, and, in addition, 

 I was keeping faith to be at a certain spot at a certain 

 time, and 1 was hastening there. 



' 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye to mark our 

 coming and grow brighter when we come.' I knew 

 that my friend would be glad to see me, though I did 

 not know that both he and his friend would jump 

 for joy when they saw my can of baits. 



So I sang, as I have told you. I can, tunefully to 

 the music of a puffing engine and many trundling 

 wheels until I reached my station, where a convey- 

 ance awaited me. 



The cold of the early morning had by now dis- 

 appeared with the frosty mist, and as the sun rose 

 higher it lit up and gave a smiling face to the trees 

 and hedgerows, and the birds, having no love songs 

 twittered their thanks for its wamith and brightness. 

 The hedges, full and resplendent with autumn's many 

 shades of brown, and overhung with berry-laden 

 bushes that had misty pendants in pearly contrast 

 to their brilliant reds, were a wondrous three miles 

 of decorations, with only such breaks as gates, through 

 some of which I caught glimpses of ponds and ditches 

 where the red-tipped withies, swaying with a rising 

 breeze, gave thoughts of the river, where, no doubt, 

 the fishers had come quite early and were having sport, 

 as no jack could be indifferent to a lure on such a breezy 

 morning following on a frost at night. 



To my astonishment I found my friend standing 

 idly upon the bridge with some one by his side, both 

 of them with their hands resting in their knicker 

 pockets. 'At his old games,' I thought, 'giving the 

 editor a start while he talks to passers-by.' 



I was introduced to the stranger and thus learnt 



he was a Mr B , and he by the same means gathered 



I was Mr G ; but he thought little of my name. 



