IN DIVERS WEATHERS. 27 



IN DIVERS WEATHERS. 



i. That Phantom Twenty-Pounder. 



A S every soldier of France is said to carry a 

 marshal's baton in his knapsack, so I, 

 when I go a -fishing for pike, always have a 

 twenty -pounder reposing in the bag. That is to 

 say, in the morning. It is never there on the 

 homeward journey in the evening. During the 

 hours that intervene, however, the thought of 

 my imaginary burden is sustaining, and of 

 much comfort. Moreover, the actual weight of 

 that fish is as nothing, and therein lies the 

 superiority of the shadow over the substance. 

 But I am prepared to forego this advantage 

 if a happy chance should offer me the sub- 

 stance. Meanwhile, as becomes a " Saturday " 

 angler, I find solace for its tardy appearance 

 in patient hope and calm content. Nor does 

 hope deferred make my heart sick, and when 

 my friend said, " You must come and have a 



