IX 



BLACK BASS and Friendly 

 swam side by side like boy and girl 

 strolling down a maple-shaded road. 

 Behind them like the spread of a fan the 

 others followed. A month had passed 

 since the affair with the angler; and Old 

 Black Bass had fully recovered. The hook 

 wound had troubled him, but clean waters 

 had soothed it to healing. 



He was well. Never in his years had 

 the full tide of life so pounded through 

 him. Energy was in his muscles, clean 

 power in the arch of his head ; and he swam 

 by Friendly with an easy confidence that 

 suggested and dominated and triumphed. 

 1 02 



