CHAPTER VII. 



"JACK." 



HE upper waters of the Bourne and Test flow through 

 Hurstbourne, Lord Portsmouth's beautiful park, and 

 were tenanted until a few years ago by portly trout 

 of aldermanic weight and size. It was found, however, 

 that they proved too costly to be retained, as the toll 

 they took of the smaller fish was prodigious, and out of 

 proportion to their value. They were accordingly captured by degrees, 

 and replaced by a more numerous colony of smaller fish. It used to be a 

 grand sight to watch the big fellows lying in the quick water near the big 

 stone bridge, or chasing the pounders with angry rushes. 



When I knew the water, some ten or twelve years ago, there were still 

 a few of these goodly-proportioned fish remaining. They were well- 

 known, and each one had his nickname. Thus one was known as 

 " Jack " ; he almost invariably lay in a narrow outlet to a culvert that led 

 the surplus water from the pool above under the roadway into the 

 pool below the bridge. For the greater portion of its length the water ran 

 underground, emerging from the culvert some two or three yards from the 

 river. The ground on either side at the end of the culvert was fully three 

 feet above the water, the banks being nearly vertical, while the stream at 

 the culvert's mouth was only about a foot wide. In this narrow gully or 

 channel lay Jack, his nose being only a few inches from the masonry. 

 Any unwary footfall speedily dislodged him from his little bay into the 

 main stream, but by crawling up warily he could be seen and admired 



