84 THE PIKE 



minutes, he let it go, and the released victim had 

 life enough left to stagger off and be carried down, 

 feebly resisting, by the stream. 



One day the pike lay in the unaccustomed posi- 

 tion of head up-stream that is to say, parallel with 

 the bank and there, wonder of wonders ! a consider- 

 able number of roach were tranquilly resting in the 

 hole. The pike appeared to have one baleful eye 

 upon them, and they on their part seemed to have all 

 eyes upon the pike, who lay with his mouth grimly 

 shut and without moving a fin. My theory was that 

 the roach knew perfectly well that, at this particular 

 time, perhaps ' for this occasion only,' they were in 

 no peril from the tyrant. A similar observation was 

 afforded me on another occasion roach herding at 

 ease at no great distance from a pike lying inert. A 

 friend who was equipped with a spinning rod con- 

 sented on the last morning of my stay in those parts 

 to try experiments. I explained to him where and 

 what the pike was, and besought him so to handle 

 his tackle that I might observe how the fish behaved 

 himself. My friend, who was really a clever pike fisher, 

 also learned something. He was under the impression 

 that his spinning bait was travelling truly when it was 

 actually moving in the most erratic fashion, and we 

 both became convinced on that occasion that one of the 



