ON AND OFF THE TOWING PATH. 67 



expressed an earnest desire to catch a 

 jack, a fish he had never yet taken, so, 

 to humour him, inpromptu tackle was rigged 

 up, a cork doing duty for a float, and a 

 gudgeon given a roving commission. There 

 was no rod available so the youthful angler 

 held the reel in his hand, but his look of eager 

 expectation was almost pathetic in its intensity. 

 His ambition appeared to be doomed to cruel 

 disappointment, and, after a few minutes' 

 grace, the man bade him take the line in, which 

 he proceeded to do with marked reluctance. 

 Inch by inch the cork came nearer to the bank, 

 then, when but a short distance away, it 

 bobbed down out of sight. Instantly the boy 

 gave a terrific tug at the line, something came 

 flying out of the water, described an arc in the 

 air, and, passing over our heads, landed in the 

 hedge behind. It was a small jack! It is a 

 moot point which was the more astonished,, 

 the boy or the fish. Of course it was woefully 

 undersized, but the lad's delight carried our 

 thoughts back to that memorable day when 



