244 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



is sickenin' hot for fish, they wun't bite at nothin'. 

 'Tis no use, I knows, comin' out ; but I can't keep 

 indoors, it does me good only to looter along 

 the banks an' look at the water; 'tis pleasant-like 

 to look at things, if the fish wun't bite. I bin 

 saunterin' up the stream that runs from the moor ; I 

 knows there is good trout there, but the holes they 

 lay in is covered over with great bramble-bushes; 

 they lop right over to t'other bank o' the stream ; 

 there ain't no chance at all for nothin'. This 'ere 

 spell o' hot weather has smothered the water with 

 flies an' caterpillars ; what the fish wants, they 

 sucks in without hardly movin' for it, an' then 

 they lays up. If this keeps on 'twill ruin fishin'." 



Of all the anglers I have ever known, and I have 

 seen many in my time, Billy, for originality, I think 

 eclipsed them all. 



The loss of his precious old hat would have 

 ruined him, battered and rusty as it was, for it 

 contained all his choice fishing-gear. The inside 

 of it was fitted up in the most ingenious manner : 

 hooks and lines, silk, wax, and wax ends, all could 

 be found by him in that venerable head-covering. 

 If any one had been wicked enough to bonnet Billy, 



