THIRD DAY. 77 



singular enough, at the same haul they 

 caught one of the largest trouts ever found 

 in that river, weighing nearly seven pounds. 

 The men seemed more anxious to secure 

 the fish than the body of their drowned 

 brother ; but the gamekeeper, being one of 

 the dragging party, took the prize up to 

 the Hall. A Coroner's Inquest was duly 

 held on the body, and a verdict found 

 " Accidentally Drowned." The country 

 people laid the homicide on the fish, which, 

 they said, had dragged the poacher from 

 a slippery stone into the pool as a judge- 

 ment for stealing ! And this was the moral 

 for about three years afterwards, when an 

 old Irishman nicknamed Sandy, an idle 

 character, who supported himself by any 

 chance employment, eked out by a little 

 poaching, was taken dangerously ill. Find- 

 ing himself on his death-bed, he declared 

 he could not die easy unless he made a 

 clean breast and confessed a great crime 



