94 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



so far as to have notice-boards put up, notifying 

 to the public that all who fished there would be 

 prosecuted. Besides this, he had gratings put up 

 at each end of the run to keep the trout from wan- 

 dering. To such a degree did he bounce about 

 and "put on side," that some of the dwellers in 

 that small hamlet began to think they must have 

 been doing wrong for years by fishing in the stream. 

 There was a sturdy few, however, who maintained 

 the contrary opinion, and in the hearing of one of 

 these the man was heard to remark that the stream 

 was worth fishing in now, "thanks to his super- 

 vision." On one long-remembered Sunday morning, 

 after he had gone to the parish church, three men 

 strolled to the water, carrying each of them a large 

 dish -shaped basket, made of thin strips of wood, 

 capable of holding half a bushel. The mills were 

 not running, and the stream was low, so that they 

 were able to get in the water without much dis- 

 comfort. Then they frightened the trout to their 

 hovers, and that done, they pushed their long 

 dish-shaped baskets under the banks, and in that 

 manner scooped the trout clear out of the stream. 

 After that they pulled down the notice-boards, and 



