1 8 The Amateur Poacher 



CHAPTER II 



THE OLD PUNT: A CURIOUS 'TURNPIKE 1 



THE sculls of our punt, being short and stout, 

 answered very well as levers to heave the clumsy old 

 craft off the sand into which it sank so deeply. That 

 sheltered corner of the mere, with a shelving sandy 

 shore, and a steep bank behind covered with trees, 

 was one of the best places to fish for roach : you 

 could see them playing under the punt in shoals any 

 sunny day. 



There was a projecting bar almost enclosing the 

 creek, which was quite still, even when the surf 

 whitened the stony strand without, driven before a 

 wet and stormy south-wester. It was the merest 

 routine to carry the painter ashore and twist the 

 rotten rope round an exposed root of the great 

 willow tree ; for there was not the slightest chance of 

 that ancient craft breaking adrift. 



All our strength and the leverage of the sculls 



