CHANCE SHOTS AND ODD FISH. 245 



he would have had a considerable tangle to get out 

 of his mop of iron-grey hair ; but the most reckless 

 respected that fishing-tackle repository, and the old 

 man too. He only owned one rod which had been 

 made by himself a pike rod with tin ferrules, that 

 had been broken in the middle in a tussle with a 

 pike which Billy nearly landed, that had got a head 

 on him, the old fellow said, like a donkey. He had 

 spliced it with waxed ends. This he only used when 

 pike-fishing ; for other purposes he cut one from the 

 river-side. Billy was generally credited with know- 

 ing all the haunts of the fish in the river : one 

 thing he certainly could always tell, and that was 

 where to go for them when they fed. 



The spell of hot weather has brought thunder 

 up ; a few showers have fallen, followed by a 

 steady downpour. Billy rubs his hands, and in- 

 forms all his fishing acquaintances that " this 'ere 

 rain will do a power o' good." The river rises 

 higher and higher ; the bridges over the mill-stream 

 are impassable, for the water is up on a level with 

 their top rails. The millers shout out from the 

 garden of the mill-house that they reckon there 

 is a fine lot of eels in the eel-trap, if they could 



