i8 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



the other end of the box looking very fierce and 

 defiant and hungry. The snails had eaten no- 

 thing, and apparently were afraid of the stag; 

 they were acting on the defensive, fully armed 

 in their thick shells against attack, and evidently 

 the beetle had gone supperless to bed. Eric in- 

 sisted on giving them another day and night to 

 cultivate friendly relations if so disposed. Next 

 morning on opening the box the situation was 

 exactly the same. The snails remained still in 

 their impregnable fortress, and the stag clinging 

 to the same spot, looking fiercer and hungrier 

 than ever. Even if the flesh of snails had been 

 his favourite dish, as probably it is, he must 

 have starved here in the closest proximity to it, 

 for even his strong jaws would be powerless to 

 storm those massive walls. Beetles generally are 

 said to have enormous appetites, and will devour 

 anything that comes in their way. 



" Why," cried Eric, " if they go on in this way 

 much longer they will all be famished together. 

 I must raise the siege." So he took the stag- 

 beetle on the end of a stick, gave him a swing, 

 and off he flew, weakly and floundering, as if on 

 the verge of starvation, alighting in some bushes 

 in the next garden. He was seen afterwards 

 buzzing about over the trees, and we wondered 

 whether he had sufficient sense or instinct to 

 find his way back to his wife and family on the 

 common. 



