LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES 



The largest fish ought to have weighed 20 lb., but it 

 only turned the scale at 16 lb. According to the re- 

 cognised rules of the game this fellow should have 

 been taken in the deepest water ; but it was a fish that 

 could probably afford to set rules at defiance. I struck 

 it, anyhow, in less than 16 in., and when I least ex- 

 pected it. We had worked our way to a shallow end 

 of the lake, where the submarine plough had not ven- 

 tured, and, observing one clear space in a waste of 

 anacharis, I threw into and spun across it, moving a 

 fish that went into the weeds beyond. It went so 

 leisurely, and made so distinct a track, that I, more 

 out of curiosity than anything else, gave it a second 

 chance. The bait was for a moment entangled in the 

 weeds, but was released easily. There was then a 

 sudden splash that could be heard afar, and a furious 

 running out of line. A salmon would not have fought 

 more gamely than did this pike during a splendid quarter 

 of an hour. Another five minutes and it would have 

 been scot-free, for it was held by one hook only of the 

 triangle. Even this had been much strained in the 

 tussle, and it came away the moment the gaff was 

 driven in. 



If Nawabs have memories, and the Nawab Nazim of 

 Bengal should to-day be thinking in his Indian palace, 

 as I am in the Queensland bush, of the same subject, 

 he will remember that summer day in hay-time when 

 we sat side by side roach fishing in the Colne, and how 

 we both agreed, after it was over, that it was the best 

 day's bottom fishing we had ever enjoyed. He made 

 this admission to me with the gravity natural to an 

 Oriental potentate ; I, not having so many jewels and 

 claims against the Government on my mind, with, I 

 hope, not unbecoming jubilancy. But we were both 

 in earnest. The worthy Hindoo and his son were 



