io6 OLD BLACK BASS 



pered the tactics of the pickerel, how he 

 fights subtly, employing cunning, tries ex- 

 haustion as himself having measureless en- 

 durance, playing about his antagonist with 

 lithe body till he is too wearied to resist, 

 then closing for the slaughter. 



The awareness of these voices was Old 

 Black Bass's superior advantage. They put 

 at his disposal the wisdom of the past. His 

 was an organism of superior endowment, 

 quick insight, subtle intuition, unerring 

 judgment, gigantic strength. 



So now instead of lunging recklessly and 

 wearing himself out, after the manner of 

 his kind, he came warily, craftily. But he 

 advanced joyfully. This was his great 

 chance. Here was occasion when he could 

 place at the service of his beloved school 

 the last full measure of his new devotion. 

 Should each school attack the other, many 

 would slip into the great Darkness that 

 day and float belly-up to the shore. But 

 should he contend and win, his kind would 

 live. It was his opportunity to atone for 

 the past, to make up to the school for those 

 thoughtless years of selfishness and cruelty. 



His eye ran over the great pickerel from 



