Introductory. xi 



hand ready to hurl at my head, came 

 the thundering " Marston ! what book 

 have you got there ? " Prepared at any 

 moment to avoid Xenophon by a judicious 

 11 duck down;' I said, "Please, sir, it's 

 Walton's 'Complete Angler.'" "Wal- 

 ton's ' Angler,' " repeated the master, and 

 a pleasant change came over the flushed 

 and angry but always jolly face. " Come 

 up here, sir, and let me look at it'' I 

 went up with some misgivings, for the 

 four-foot cane was not put down with 



Xenophon; in fact, " old H /' as we 



irreverently called him, seemed to be try- 

 ing its balance as he would a fly-rod. 

 " Ah ! a very pretty edition " ; and after 

 some little time, "And are you a fisher- 

 man ? " I proudly said I was ; and then 

 we had a regular talk about fishing, and 

 I related how during the recent holidays I 

 had lost a five-pound chub. " What, sir! 

 How do you know he was five pounds, 

 if you lost him ?" " Well, sir, I think 

 / believe he would have weighed near 

 six, if I had caught him." " That will 



