190 FISHES I HAVE KNOWN 



lilies growing in formal flower-beds, sad-eyed 

 Anglican nuns, breviary in hand, and wearing 

 whimple and hood, wearily stroll and a fish 

 " stew," used by the monks in pre-Reformation 

 times. 



In this "stew" I fished for pike. Though deep, 

 its dimensions are absurdly small, 40 feet by 20 

 feet. Lined and edged with stone, it is perennially 

 fed by a little stream of clear water from a distant 

 lake, and on one side against the old garden 

 hedge grow a few water plants. So exiguous 

 is it, that I ridiculed the report that a very 

 large pike had been seen half asleep near the 

 surface. 



I decided to use a snap-tackle arrangement, and 

 for live bait a roach, which I had to catch, an easy 

 enough operation, for the " stew " was full of them. 

 I was encouraged to try for pike by the sight of 

 several small ones poising themselves motionless 

 in the water, after the manner of their parents. 

 Stationed at one end of the stew, I was just 

 glancing back to observe the nuns in the garden, 

 when ! was I dreaming ! or had I been mys- 

 teriously whirled into mediaeval time ! For 

 there, facing me, was a veritable monk, with bare, 

 tonsured head, cowl, and sandalled feet, rod in 

 hand, just about to angle, and smiling exactly as 



