Grip of the Wire. 183 



Gradually the wire swims down with the current, 

 just as if it were any ordinary twig or root carried 

 along, such as the jack is accustomed to see, and he 

 therefore feels no alarm. By degrees the loop comes 

 closer to the fish, till with steady hand the poacher 

 slips it over the head, past the long vicious jaws and 

 gills, past the first fins, and pauses when it has 

 reached a place corresponding to about one-third of 

 the length of the fish, reckoning from the head. That 

 end of the jack is heavier than the other, and the 

 i lines ' of the body are there nearly straight. Thus 

 the poacher gets a firm hold — for a fish, of course, is 

 slippery — and a good balance. If the operation is 

 performed gently the jack will remain quite still, 

 though the wire rubs against his side : silence and 

 stillness have such a power over all living creatures. 

 The poacher now clears his arm and, with a sudden 

 jerk, lifts the fish right out of the stream and lands 

 him on the sward. 



So sharp is the grasp of the wire that it frequently 

 cuts its way through the scales, leaving a mark plainly 

 visible when the jack is offered for sale. The sudden- 

 ness and violence of the compression seem to disperse 

 the muscular forces, and the fish appears dead for the 

 moment. Very often, indeed, it really is killed by 

 the jerk. This happens when the loop either has not 



