THE PIKE, JACK, OR LUCE. 151 



was fishing with a gut paternoster (most foolishly), however, the straggle 

 was of not long duration. The pike somehow cut the gut it was not 

 broken far above the hooks, and his pikeship got away. Of course 

 sympathy was duly exchanged, and we, after trying again ineffectually 

 for the same fish or another, proceeded on our way, and soon lost sight 

 of so ugly a mishap in the capture of a fine five pounder and some good 

 perch. As the evening approached, however, and we proceeded to return 

 to the landing stage whence we had started, it occurred to one of us 

 to try this " pikey " nook again, in the faint hopes of recapturing the 

 breakaway. Curiously enough the first throw of the spinning bait pro- 

 claimed a fish hooked. He was duly played and landed, and wound round 

 and round his jaw was the identical paternoster lost in the former part 

 of the day, with both hooks in the fleshy part of his mouth at the side. 

 If this fish had suffered pain, as we understand it, would he have regard- 

 lessly taken the latter bait with such alacrity, or, indeed, at all ? I 

 humbly conceive that the moral of both these incidents is simply that fish 

 do not suffer as has been alleged by so-called humanitarians. 



In any case, it amounts to a certainty that the struggling fish on 

 ordinary tackle does not suffer the excruciating agony which is supposed 

 to accrue from the anticipation of capture. The fore-knowledge of death 

 is denied man, unless he can gather it from his surroundings, or is com- 

 municated by speech it is never intuitive. The hooked fish can certainly 

 not reason from cause to effect. It seizes a bait ; pain of a slightly dis- 

 comforting nature warns it of something being abnormal, and it appreciates 

 at once that its movements are not absolutely free. But I conceive that 

 this resistance only heightens the enjoyment of its capture of the bait, 

 which, were it not for the sense of physical discomfort imparted by the 

 presence of the hook to the fish, would be unalloyed whilst it lasted. The 

 hunting spirit is inherently a pleasure in all animals of prey the pleasure 

 of satisfying hunger which having been enhanced by its exercise, is its 

 crowning joy. The struggle is not painful, but must be pleasurable, for 

 it is merely an exercise of muscular power, and the exercise of power of 

 any kind is, up to limits dictated by the organism, a pleasure. In man 

 the intelligence, which in some cases foresees a failure to get the object 

 aimed at, becomes hopeless in the strife, and then the strife becomes pain. 

 With the athlete, racing, walking, jumping, or wrestling, the finis coronat 

 opus is before him. Take away the crowning hope, and the struggle is 

 slavery, and slavery is, to a fine intelligence witnessing the extent of the 

 failure, excruciating torture. Suppose, however, the crown possible of 

 being won, then contest is a natural pleasure, which shows itself through- 

 out animate creation. Thus is it with the hooked fish. We have seen 

 that the pliant rod and fine steel hook can cause but little inconvenience 



