95 



could not help laughing at this performance, and I thought 

 if that was the London style of ground baiting it was certainly 

 a very absurd and ridiculous one. When the gentleman saw 

 that I was laughing, he said, " You may laugh, but we will show 

 you a bit of Roach fishing that you don't often witness." " Well," 

 I said, " I hope you may, but I very much doubt it." " Why," 

 asked he. " Because," I replied, " in ten minutes there will not 

 be a fish in the place that would thank you for the best bait 

 you could put on the hook, for the simple reason that you have 

 thrown in such a medley of stuff, and such a quantity, that 

 the fish will be perfectly gorged." " Nonsense," he said, " there 

 is plenty of fish here, and I shall give them as much more in 

 about ten minutes." " Well," I said, " we shall see what effect 

 this first lot takes." So at it they went, a gentleman and a 

 lady. 



First round. After a good deal of dodging, her ladyship let 

 fly a beautiful right hander, which nailed one on the conk, 

 drawing the first blood. . 



Second round. A little cautious sparring for about a minute, 

 when the gentleman made a slashing upper cut with the right 

 hand, which told with effect on the nasal organ. He claimed 

 the first knock-down, but, unfortunately, the force of his blow 

 broke his tackle. 



Third round, Rather slow at getting to work. The gent 

 came up rather flushed and excited from the effects of hitting 

 in the last round, and after a few harmless taps on both sides they 

 pulled up. 



Fourth round. In this round some good hitting took place ; 

 one napped it on the beak the other under the chin, a break- 

 away and at it again, when the gent succeeded in planting one, 

 two, on the mouth, and was about to administer another spank, 

 when her ladyship sent out a straight one, and nailed him on 

 the snuffbox. This brought it to a close. 



Fifth round. The hitting in this round was all in favour of 

 her ladyship, for she succeeded in probing him three times in 

 succession on the breather, and got clear away without a return, 



