THE PIKE 



with the three sets of triangles intact. This was 

 glorious for the boatman, who had prophesied that I 

 was, practically speaking, only playing the fool, and 

 who was now not slow to state in profane vernacular 

 that if the hooks had been of reasonable size I should 

 have caught the fish. Nevertheless the huge spoon 

 which my friend was trailing had caught nothing but 

 weeds, whilst in the course of half an hour I could 

 boast of three abortive runs at the little phantom, 

 and the striking of one small fish about two feet in 

 length, which, lightly hooked, bounded into the air 

 and splashed back to freedom. The encouragement 

 was that the fish were ' on the move,' and it began to 

 be apparent that my modest desire of catching a lunge 

 for examination was not so remote a possibility as 

 might be supposed. 



We were proceeding midway between the island 

 and the mainland, silent after an interval of talk 

 about sport generally and the ups and downs of 

 colonial life, when my rod top was jerked downwards 

 almost to the water ; the winch revolved madly, and 

 the line ran out at speed to cut well into my fore- 

 finger. My friend in the stern, surmising from the 

 expression of my countenance that something had 

 happened, with the instinct of a sportsman hauled in 

 his sash line and coiled it neatly under foot out of the 



