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CHAPTER IX. 



NIGHT-FISHING. 



I must become a borrower of the night 

 For a dark hour or twain." 



Macbeth. 



TT is no unwonted experience for the hardy fisher- 

 men of our shores to leave the light and warmth 

 of home, and go forth to toil upon the unresting sea 

 in the gloom and dangers of the night, 



" Darkling as they face the billows, 

 A' to fill the woven willows." 



And the professional angler, too, who plies his 

 craft by river-side in happier scenes, recognising a 

 necessity not laid upon the mere sportsman, " for- 

 bears at times to sleep the nights," and makes 

 them "fellow-labourers with the days." But for 

 the average angler, to whom the idea of fishing is 

 mainly suggestive of an escape for the nonce from 

 the anxieties of life, much of the charm of fishing 



