60 OLD BLACK BASS 



their kind, and whose wisdom rouses the 

 true fisherman as a rare species lures the 

 hunter. 



And while Old Black Bass did not 

 know the ways of men in the great outside 

 world, there was such a fisherman who 

 should one day visit Lone Pine ; and during 

 that visit the wise bass and the clever angler 

 should meet and contend. 



It was the day following that he did an- 

 other of the despicable things that had 

 earned for him the hatred of the entire 

 school. A stone from an old fence slid 

 quickly down and pinned Red-eye by the 

 tail. Gloria hurried quickly to him to help, 

 just as one ram will patiently endeavor to 

 remove the thorn from the head of another. 



And she was succeeding. Red-eye was in 

 a panic and struggling violently while 

 Gloria nosed blindly at the stone. It gave, 

 and the impinioned tail slipped a fraction. 



Then Old Black Bass did an atrocious 

 thing. Why he did it, who knows? Per- 

 haps in a dim way he was angered at him- 

 self that he also had not been quick to aid ; 

 but not having proffered such aid, perhaps 

 wanted to show that another kind of action 



