XI 

 THE ARM OF THE LAW 



THEY have the Law at the back of them, 

 these water-bailiffs, and the majesty of the 

 Law is an imposing thought. Perhaps 

 it is that which gives to water-bailiffs 

 some of their quiet dignity, though the fact that 

 they seem a race of naturally dignified men, is no 

 doubt due in part to their living near Nature. 

 Probably most of them have been keepers and 

 outdoor men all their lives. Those who live 

 much by meadow and stream, near copse and 

 spinney, watching with open eyes the seasons 

 changing in the procession of the year, absorb 

 into their character something of nature's 

 " bigness." 



Sometimes the water-bailiff is a pensioned 

 policeman, spending the evening of his days in 

 the country, the professional instinct still alive. 

 If he be a practical angler, or one who in his 

 earlier days liked his little bit of fishing, and 

 never has lost the love of it and its associations, 

 then to anglers he is all the more interesting as 

 a personality. To the retired policeman clings 

 some of that official manner acquired during his 



