THE ANGLER'S GUIDE. 181 



upon the affair, and said, with his finger 

 uplifted, 



" Hush ! hush ! Mr. Rigings ! " and whis- 

 pering to Bigings, said, " You'd better have 

 nothing more to do with it, Mr. Bigings ! " 



" I'll have it out, whatever it is, by some 

 means or other," said Bigings. " But I '11 

 just lay my rod down a little, and perhaps 

 it '11 get loose," and so saying, he put down his 

 rod, evidently half-frightened. 



This gave the gents an opportunity of per- 

 forming what they wanted, namely, to get the 

 figure round the post, so that they might ulti- 

 mately get all his line off his winch! They 

 therefore, began pulling it, and before Bigings 

 could get hold of his rod, succeeded in their 

 object. 



" Look, look ! " said Rigings, " how it's 

 running away with your line," and as he took 

 up his rod, the winch spun round. 



" Pull ! pull ! " said he ; and he did pull, 

 but all his line was gone. 



" It must be some monster of the deep," 

 said Stickings, with a tremendously long face, 

 " or it never could serve yer in sicli a way as 

 that 'ere;' and Bigings looked as grave as 

 a judge. 



