146 AN ANGLER'S BASKET. 



part I consider it lost time to stop and try to wheedle him ; 

 you might as well try to humbug your mother-in-law. My 

 advice is, hook it. Not the bull, mind, but hook It ; cut, 

 run, skedaddle, mizzle, up the sides and down the middle. 

 " Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once." 

 I have heard it said that the most uproariously funny bull 

 will become quite tractable, and even affectionate, if you 

 scratch him behind the head, at the same time talking to 

 him nicely. I only give you this on the authority of others, 

 and, for myself, shall prefer to " cut my lucky." 



A good many years ago, I was going down the bank of 

 the Wharfe when I perceived a man's head and shoulders 

 sticking out of the water at the edge of a deep hole. As I 

 came alongside him (he was on the far side), I perceived 

 B - , an angler I knew, who had come out for the day 

 with S - . Close behind him on the bank was a bull, 

 breathing snorts and groans of vengeance at his victim in 

 the water. " What are you doing there, B - ?" I shouted. 

 " Cannot you see ? Do you think I am here because I like 

 it?" he answered. "I cannot get across to your side 

 because it is too deep, and he won't let me go back; I 

 suppose I shall have to drown at last. I wish you would 

 throw stones at the brute." " Where is S - ?" I enquired. 

 " He is up that tree ; he has been there half an hour or 

 more, but I fancy he thinks I am drowned ; or else he is 

 dead of fright ; I haven't heard him speak for a long time. 

 We are having a day out I can tell you. Throw stones, 

 there's a good fellow; kill him if you can." I am afraid 

 some of the stones I shied fell nearer B - than the carcase 

 of the bull, and B - protested I was doing it on purpose. 

 But after a steady bombardment for some time the bull 

 retired in good order, B - came out of the river, S - 

 came down the tree, and the engagement was over. 



