AND FUR ON SURREY HILLS, 85 



his mill marked on it in full. Not only was the 

 outlet discovered by him, but he opened it and let 

 out the water. So cleverly did he manage this, that 

 by the morning the pond was full again to the edge, 

 without anything to tell how the affair had been 

 contrived. I was rarely in bed after four o'clock in 

 the morning nine months out of the twelve, and on 

 that particular morning my work took me past the 

 mill-pond at my usual early hour. To my astonish- 

 ment I found the water-meadow nearest the pond 

 turned into a shallow lagoon, in which great pike 

 and other fish were rushing about like rockets, mak- 

 ing the golden tops of the king-cups nod about in a 

 most extraordinary fashion. I suppose it was very 

 wrong of me, but how I laughed and rubbed my 

 hands in glee to see the fun and the sight of that 

 harlequin-like fellow, with his trousers tucked up to 

 his knees, a " three-speened fork," as he termed it, 

 in his hand, as busy as a bee in a tar-pot, harpoon- 

 ing the fish with the greatest ease. He had some 

 fine specimens of pike already laid out on the grass 

 when I arrived. As I stood there enjoying the 

 scene, who should appear but the village constable 

 returning from his beat of night duty. Nothing 



