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when two men came up to him and inquired if he had seen a 

 pleasure boat pass. He answered that he had only just arrived 

 and had not suen a boat of any kind. The two men were about 

 to pass on, when my friend said, " Hold, I will go with you 

 if you will wait a minute ; there is a fish here I want to catch, and 

 he is sure to bite the first or second swim." " How do you 

 know, said one, have you seen him ? " " No," says the con- 

 fident piscator, "I have not seen him, but it is a dead 

 certainty there is one, so here goes for him." The float did not 

 swim a yard before it went down, and the Angler hooked 

 a Chub two pounds weight, which one of the astonished pair 

 landed, making the remark, " Well, I never saw a fish killed 

 so scientifically before." My friend now picked up his traps 

 and was ready to go with the two men, who said, " What ! 

 not fish again after killing a fine fish like that on the first 

 cast." "No," said the bold piscator, " There is only another 

 fish in the place, and he would not bite now, he having seen his 

 mate taken out, but I will catch him when I come back." 

 Away they went together, and when they had got about a mile 

 up the river my friend made another stand, saying, " There are 

 two fish here, and I will throw in and catch one now, and take 

 the other on my way back, but they are not so large as the one 

 I have caught." "Well, the first swim he caught another Chub 

 about a pound weight, the two men being more astonished than 

 ever. They now moved on again, and half a mile further up the 

 Angler stopped again. " Now," said one of the two, laughing, 

 " How many fish are there in this place : you had better tell us 

 before you commence, and tell us also how many you are going 

 to catch." " Well," replied my friend, " There are six fish here : 

 I will catch three now, and the other three when I return, but 

 they are not so large as the last." He threw a little bit of 

 scratching in, and surprising as it may seem, he actually killed 

 three Chub about half a pound each in as many swims. They 

 then proceeded some distance higher up, when another halt 

 was made, the Angler saying, as before, there are six fish here : 

 I shall take three now and the other three on my way home. 



