THIRD DAY. 85 



the pike to prey upon the hooked or help- 

 less fish, is favourable to the troller. 



S. No doubt it is, if a fish is in any 

 way crippled, or spawning : it must then 

 be an easy prey to its ferocious enemies. 

 A very ludicrous instance of the voracity 

 of the pike was related to me a short time 

 since. A gentleman, in Northamptonshire, 

 was seated quietly in a summer-house by 

 the margin of a large pond, watching the 

 water-fowl feeding upon it. Suddenly the 

 geese and ducks rose from the water and 

 took flight with loud cries, one old goose 

 making more noise than the rest. A large 

 pike had seized her foot, and in her flight 

 she had dragged the old tyrant clean out 

 of the water and shaken herself free from 

 his grasp. 



Simon. I do b'lieve nothing comes amiss 

 to um. Last zummer, zome o' the bwoys 

 was a rat huntin" up by the bridge, and 

 the dogs started a girt rat, and off a went 



