THE BROOK IN APRIL 



posed of two cast-off horseshoes, one 

 being straightened and welded across the 

 other in the middle of the bend. This 

 gives a rough imitation of Neptune's tri- 

 dent with the three prongs a good half- 

 inch broad and usually sharpened to a 

 cutting edge. Mounted on a long pole it 

 is complete, and its possession makes of 

 a boy a vengeful Poseidon having do- 

 minion over the shallows of the brook. 

 Boys who know no better because they 

 have been taught by their elders that this 

 is the way to do it, "spear " suckers with 

 these instruments. A handy youngster 

 can guillotine a five-pound fish into two 

 separate, bloody sections with this plung- 

 ing death, and fork the limp and quiver- 

 ing remnants up on the bank with it. 



Even the boy who does it, though he 

 whoops with the wild delight of bloody 

 conquest, knows that this is not sport. 

 93 



