84 OLD BLACK BASS 



lost after a wild hour with an angler a 

 female of four years, graceful and comely. 

 She joined the school with the eagerness of 

 loneliness, and seeing the great and kindly 

 bass, swam to him at once. 



Her whole manner toward him was of 

 admiration and respect. She touched his 

 side gently and waited, fanning with tawny 

 pelvic fins. This was the first real friendli- 

 ness Old Black Bass had ever encountered, 

 directed at himself alone. It stirred some- 

 thing deep within him. As if afraid of the 

 ridicule of the school he looked quickly 

 about him, but he saw only sympathy. 



He turned to the stranger, and she was 

 stranger no longer. Her glance was so 

 direct and open, her movement so ingenu- 

 ously appealing, that from that hour she 

 became Friendly, and by that name was 

 ever known. Taking her place beside Old 

 Black Bass, the school went leisurely 

 through the sparkling waters. 



