IN THE LAND OF NOD 107 



preached and cast from the upper side, letting his 

 lure float down under the bridge and then gently 

 drawing it up the stream. The next instant he 

 knew that his intuitions had not deceived him. A 

 struggle, and then a glorious trout lay glistening 

 in the sunshine. The farmer, who was waging a 

 war of extermination against potato bugs on a 

 neighbouring hillside, came down and lent his 

 countenance to the stranger poaching on his pre- 

 serves. To make it short, from under that bridge 

 that afternoon came twelve trout that weighed not 

 less than ten pounds. 



One more experience must be told. The Judge, 

 the Preacher and the Southerner had gone up the 

 de Sable River at high tide in a dory. Their theory 

 was that after fishing around Dixon's Mill they 

 would float back on the receding tide. The theory 

 as to the fishing and the receding of the tide 

 proved trustworthy; but the floating was a delu- 

 sion. The fact is, they fished too long, the tide 

 had gone out, and the dory would float only as it 

 was dragged. The Southerner declared that he 

 was incapacitated for violent physical exertion, and 

 furnished his share of the necessary toil in the 

 shape of large chunks of advice. As a self-acting 

 dispenser of gratuitous counsel he was immense. 

 Behold the Judge at one end of the boat and the 

 Preacher at the other, shoes and stockings off, 

 trousers rolled above the knees, tugging and strain- 

 ing at that heavy boat to induce it to float in three 



