DEVIL FISHING. 37 



for some miles into the interior ; its margin at a distance 

 fringed with tall green wood, descending to the water's 

 edge, and varied here and there by clusters of white 

 houses grouping in the prospect like fleets of sail at anchor, 

 or by the glitter of a tributary river flowing down from 

 the rich inlands beyond, or perhaps by an occasional 

 glimpse of a cool vista, leading the eye up to some cheer- 

 ful retreat of hospitable wealth. All this region had been 

 the theatre of many a revolutionary adventure, not yet 

 passed from the memories of the living. But of late years, 

 Broad Eiver was famous chiefly for its fine fishing. Drum 

 in the spring, bass in autumn, and so on through the sea- 

 sons. But a new object was now drawing the eyes of the 

 curious. A nondescript creature, unlike anything before 

 heard of in the heavens above, or the earth beneath, had 

 been seen twirling his giant form, bat-like, along the 

 shores, now protruding his broad flaps in graceful curves 

 above the surface and now starting with the nimbleness of 

 a silver-fish, his full length into the air, and returning in a 

 cloud of spray and foam into his native depths. Some 

 called it the vampire, others the devil-fish, and not a few, 

 shaking their heads significantly, wished to know how it 

 came to pass, that some one (nameless to ' ears polite ? ) had 

 so much more countenance in these parts than formerly. 

 Marvellous, too, were the tales of his doings in Broad 

 Eiver. He once took up the anchor of an eight-oared 

 boat, without the least provocation, and made off to sea 

 with it, in spite of the outcries and struggles of the occu- 



