114 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



ever being so glad to see a man. Lost all our 

 baits in the night." 



"You see, Geen," said the artist, "in the little 

 stream close by we placed a hamper weighted with 

 stones and, while it was held half under water, we 

 put the dace in, tied the cover down and let them 

 sink." 



I asked a question which brought: "Of course 

 we did, and fastened it to a tree." 



"Well, Geen, when we went this morning to see 

 that all was well with them the hamper was gone, 

 and where do you think we found it ? Why, half 

 a mile away, empty." 



"Yes," said the editor, "and we could see the 

 beggars swimming up and down the stream, and 

 we chased them with sparrow-nets until we were 

 tired. Glad you have come ; never saw a show 

 go so rotten for want of bossing. Glad you've 

 come, Green." 



With this he took up my bait-can, and saying : 

 "Come along," he was off towards the meadow 

 gate. 



Someone has said that he believed in ghosts 

 implicitly until he saw one and, I fear, had I been 

 asked at that moment if I believed in editors, 

 I should have said : " Implicitly, until I saw this 

 fellow who calls me ' Green ' and has walked off 

 with my can of baits." He was in no way like 

 the Apollo of my imaginings ; there did not seem 

 enough of him to hold the vast stores of assorted 

 knowledge of the world's doings that editors possess. 

 Nature seems to have endowed the softer sex with 

 guiding instincts in the matter of first impressions 

 but it's a dangerous weakness in a man to form 



