OLLA PODRIDA 269 



troubled Preacher went behind the bar in search 

 of those scales, and was caught in the act by the 

 landlord. 



"What do you want?" questioned the pro- 

 prietor. 



" I want to weigh that fish." 



In a low voice that could not reach the Senior 

 in the adjoining dining-room, the landlord said : 

 " Never mind. I'll tell you. That fish weighs just 

 five pounds." 



And that unsuspicious old man went back home 

 and bragged of his thirteen-pound muskie, while 

 the Preacher said never a word. What's the use 

 of spoiling a good story? 



Some people seem to be naturally skeptical about 

 fish stories. They should not be, for tales of pis- 

 catorial adventure are peculiar in that, no matter 

 how big they are made, they can never equal the 

 facts. The Preacher had just come to his new 

 parish, and after a month or so of work there had 

 taken a trip to the Nepigon. He could do nothing 

 less, on his return, than tell stories of big trout, for 

 there were no others to tell about. At the dinner 

 table in one of the homes of his parish he had been 

 relating some of his fishing adventures on the fa- 

 mous stream, of an eight-pound trout taken at Vic- 

 toria Pool and the numbers that went four and 

 five pounds each, when the hostess, a vivacious and 

 witty woman, threw up her hands and jocularly 



