138 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



float, with a small ring of pure white on its top, 

 not larger than a button, halts for a few seconds 

 in a bit of slack water which is bayed in by 

 one of the projecting sluice-piers ; then down 

 it goes, and keeps down for some minutes a 

 couple of minutes it may be before the float 

 comes to the surface again, not far from where 

 it disappeared. Under it goes once more, but 

 not out of sight ; then up it comes, and you 

 gather in your slack line. If you have any, 

 see that your winch, or reel, is all right, free 

 from a "kink up" and a smash; and then 

 strike. Not that striking is necessary ; for 

 he has pouched and hooked himself, but 

 simply to let Esox hicius know that there is 

 something at your end of the line as well as 

 at his own. 



Out rushes the fish through the broken water 

 from the sluice-gates, and for a time he sucks 

 in the slack, on the other side of the run ; but 

 the strain on the line, caused by the current, 

 frets him, and presently he is once more on the 

 move, returning in a sweep to where you first 

 dropped your dace in for him. Now the float 

 shows for a moment in front of you ; give 

 him the butt, just to see what he is like, and 

 whether he is ready for grassing. Not just yet 



