146 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



The squire, you see, had some trout sent him 

 young ones from Scotland." 



" From Lochleven, I suppose ? " 



" Yes, that's the name. Well, he gives me strict 

 orders to put 'em up in the copse where the springs 

 are, for 'em to get big enough to turn out. There's 

 a open place about the size of a table, clean, sandy 

 bottom ; you could see a pin, it's that clear. The 

 bushes are all round it, a nice, quiet place. I turns 

 'em in there and looks at 'em twice a-day, sometimes 

 more. After a bit I misses some of them young 

 trout. I tackled Joe about it ; he told me he'd 

 never bin near the place, and there was no ducks or 

 moor-hens about. So one mornin' I gets in the 

 copse and watches made a hide for myself with 

 boughs close to the place where I turned the trout 

 in. I wasn't kept waiting very long before I heard 

 a kingfisher come up soundin' his rattle. He shoots 

 over the copse and perches on a twig right over the 

 trout. He cocked his head on one side and then 

 click ! and another was gone. It fairly bothered 

 me what to do ; presently a thought come into my 

 head like. 



" I chanced to have some galvanised netting at 



