362 PBAIBIE AND FOKEST. 



impromptu bait was nearly at an end. Being humbugged and 

 victimised is at all times disagreeable, and as the laugh was 

 decidedly against me, with a sharp jerk, I disengaged my 

 flies, and chastising the brute which had caused me so 

 much trouble, and sincerely hoped his breakfast would 

 disagree with him. With a flourish of the tail, my tor- 

 mentor bid me good morning, and I returned to the shore 

 in far from an enviable frame of mind. On my way to the 

 shanty for my morning meal, I scarcely spoke a word, no 

 doubt moralising on the uncertainty of all worldly affairs ; 

 but just as I was entering the domicile, with feelings of 

 dire revenge, I told my attendant not to say a single word 

 on the subject, for that I had a plan in my head by which 

 I trusted to wipe off all old scores. With vindictive feel- 

 ing I munched my food in silence, avenging myself on the 

 finny tribe by the quantity of fish I put under my belt, and 

 only did I begin to feel in a placid frame of mind after I 

 had smoked an inch of my morning cigar. Tobacco 

 divine tobacco! how much does irascible man owe you! 

 Companion in our solitude, amuser in our idleness, and 

 soother in our troubles, what happy fancies and castles in 

 the air can we build whilst watching thy smoke curling 

 gracefully towards the azure heavens or dingy roof- tree ! 

 What henpecked husband has not enjoyed your soothing 

 influence when he has escaped to the safety of his sanctum ? 

 The lords of creation owe much to the taste and good 

 sense of Sir Walter Raleigh, the ladies little undoubtedly 

 the reason that he lives less vividly in our memories than 

 his deserts. 



About an hour before sunset I returned to the field of 



