THE TOWN-MEETING 4*3 



wire-puller had his own notions of precedence and, 

 cuffing some of the smaller fry out of his way and 

 frightening off others by the glare of his eye, he 

 proceeded to make that tid-bit his own. No sooner 

 had he closed his jaws upon the coveted dainty than 

 he was sorry, for there was evidently " a string to 

 it " and that string kept steadily tugging at his 

 mouth. Much as he believed in " pulls " he did not 

 enjoy this one, and tried to part with it. He ca- 

 vorted about among his astonished fellow-towns- 

 men, flung himself out of the water, darted towards 

 a well-known root that had succoured him once be- 

 fore in a like experience, but still that firm persua- 

 sion at work upon his mouth would not let up and, 

 at last, he gave ground and was guided out into the 

 river. 



Out in the stream, thirty or forty feet from the 

 pool, stood the Preacher engineering this perform- 

 ance. To say that he was nervous is a mild state- 

 ment. He was scared. It had occurred to him 

 just after that battle had begun that his landing net 

 was at the camp, and here was a big, big trout to be 

 taken care of. A six-ounce bamboo rod does not 

 lend itself to the derrick act by which you lift the 

 fish out of the water by main force and throw him 

 over your head, landing him some eighty rods 

 away. It would not do to try tiring out the old 

 warrior in the pool, for by the time that was ac- 

 complished all of his comrades would be in a state 

 of mind that would effectually prevent any further 



