A DAY AT LOUGH MELVIN. &J 



farther, for the water suddenly shoaled, and 

 feeling himself too near the surface he at- 

 tempted to turn. But the manoeuvre had 

 been foreseen and anticipated ; the boat 

 was cleverly winded, and receded from the 

 shoal, leaving the fish astern, while the 

 Captain, preserving his advantage by a 

 steady pull, kept him rolling about on the 

 surface, till the Squire's boat, which had 

 been following in his wake, shot by, and 

 Paddy Mooshlan gaffed him as he passed. 



'* Hurrah ! Well done ! Cleverly done all 

 hands ! " as a sixteen-pounder black trout, for 

 such he turned out to be, floundered into 

 the Squire's boat. " Out with the whisky- 

 flask, and a glass all round. Hold on by the 

 boat-hook to the other boat, and bring us 

 alongside, you confounded Johnny M'Gowan! 

 Three cheers for the Captain ! and one more 

 for Paddy Mooshlan the best gaffer in Ire- 

 land!" 



" Well, Squire," said the Scholar, gazing 

 ruefully at the wretched remains of his cross- 

 line, some half-dozen flies fluttering from 

 the top of his rod, " I suppose your Hamp- 

 shire rule must hold good ; the cross-lines 

 are apart, you see." 



