258 AN OPEN CREEL 



soon after two, thinking principally of the futility of 

 fishing, when I became aware of a movement in the 

 water about twenty yards below me, close to the bank. 

 I stopped, and perceived that it was a fish travelling in 

 my direction and rising as it travelled. Presently I 

 got a glimpse of a great length of spotted trout, enough 

 almost to warrant the vast estimate of the keeper, 

 which had been upwards of seven pounds. At the 

 same moment there were footsteps behind me, and five 

 small children trotted along waving boughs and making 

 merry. I threw myself on their mercy, and implored 

 them, as they valued all our lives, to creep along by the 

 fish as close to the hedge and as far from the water as 

 they could. Good as gold, they went by like mice, and 

 left me with the trout still rising, and the chance, it 

 seemed, of a lifetime. I was too excited to change my 

 cast or take off the drawn point, for at any moment the 

 fish might leave off. The Wickham would do as well 

 as anything, and needed no changing. Rapidly I 

 extended line, and was about to cast, when, horror ! 

 more footsteps sounded behind. I fear a lover and his 

 lass have seldom before aroused tendencies so nearly 

 homicidal. He was waving as he went a peeled wand, 

 which flashed in the sun waving it over the water ! I 

 groaned in spirit, but said nothing. There was nothing 

 to say. 



They went by, and I saw the wave of the fish as it 

 retreated before them to the other side. It was put 

 down for good. But no, up it came under the bank, 

 once, twice, and a third time, travelling a foot at each 

 rise. With a hedge at my side and a tree behind, 

 covering it was an impossibility, but I was so excited 



