GOING TOO FAST. 197 



net. I asked him why he did not seize the net ; and 

 he replied, " They were so many." Having told him 

 that hostile numbers, where a man was in the rioht, 

 went for nothing, I hastened to the river, followed by 

 him, my butler Cratchley, who had succeeded my 

 old servant Eary, then dead, and two labourers 

 named George Target and James Dewy, who after- 

 wards became the best gamekeepers I ever knew. As I 

 came in sight of the river there was evidently a mis- 

 giving in the minds of some of the party as to the 

 maintenance of peace, or their success in war, for I 

 saw several point-nets ascend the bank from the water, 

 and fly into the opposite woods of j\Ir. Penruddocke. 

 When we reached the bank there might be about five 

 or six men left still in possession of the drag-net. 

 I jumped into the river, followed by my three men; 

 the butler, evidently thinking that water was not his 

 place (had it been wine, it might have been different), 

 remained on the bank. A great stout carrier was the 

 first man I got hold of; and finding that he kept the 

 rope twisted round his hands, I gave the word to my 

 men to out knives, and cut away. It was well obeyed, 

 and in two minutes the net and ropes, piece-meal, 

 were in our possession, and I turned those I deemed 

 the ao-o^ressors out of the river. The real fact of the 

 case stood thus: I had nothing whatever to do with that 

 portion of the river, for my landlord had no power over 

 it, and had no sort of right to let it. In proof of this, 

 the farmer, Mr. Futcher, who had the mill to which 

 that portion of the river was exclusively attached, 

 summoned me before the Bench for the assault and 

 damage to the net, at the same time good-humouredly 

 referring me for information to deeds respecting the 

 right of fishery, and saying that he had no desire to 



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