64 



aucl Velveteens cleverly tailed him, and flung him out on 

 the bank, a well-fed fish of Gibs., with my lost tackle still in 

 liis mouth. 



It continued to rain, and the gale still raged, and w*^ 

 therefore gave up for the day, to return to a dinner of more 

 pork ! This pig diet was getting serious, so we had 

 some pike steaks fried, but as these were cooked in port 

 fat, the flavour of the unclean animal was very mucn in 

 evidence. Talk of pigs being the domestic pets of the 

 Irish people, why I verily believe that " Dennis " is the 

 only edible creature known to the rural populati)n of the 

 eastern counties. 



Next day the prospects were better, the gale had ex- 

 pended itself and the sun shone, so we were early at the 

 riverside. By way of a beginning we got chased by an 

 able-bodied shorthorn bull, and if he had not considerately 

 given us two hundred yards start, we might not have done 

 any fishing at all that day. I never covered the ground 

 and got over a gate quicker in my life, and the language 

 that beast used towards us from the other side must have 

 been awful, if we had only been able to understand him ! 

 As he appeared disposed to charge the gate, we did not 

 stop to discuss the matter with him. What is the proper 

 course for an angler to adopt when he is charged by a bull ? 

 This is a question fraught with most vital importance to 

 us all, because most anglers meet with these bovine inci- 

 dents now and then— this makes my fourth encounter in 

 five years ! The only man who ever answered my question, 

 told me that the best thing to do was to seize the bull by 

 his tail, and belabour him with gaff or landing-net handle. 

 This may be a good plan, but none of the bulls that have 

 chased me ever came tail first ! 



We fished at different lengths of the river to-day, and 

 found the trout close up to the bank, and mostly hid 

 beneath the shade of overhanging tufts of grass, or other 

 shelter, so that to float a fly over them was, in most cases, 

 impossible. Velveteens had no faith in the fly for these 

 bank feeders, and I dare say he was right from his point 

 of view, but we were fishing for sport, and not for the pot. 



