186 THE ANGLER'S GUIDE. 



for while they were jolly anglers, they were 

 also punctual ones. Bigings, Stickings, and 

 Rigings took their places in the train to 

 London, for which the real anglers paid, and 

 by eleven o'clock they were all at home with 

 their loving spouses, who were all pleased with 

 the fish ; for all the barbel their friends caught 

 they gave to them, so that their baskets were 

 quite full ; and they lived upon fish for the 

 next three or four days. 



How long it was before they went angling 

 again we don't know ; but we do know that 

 for miles around where they spent their 

 angling day very strange stories were told 

 about their angling achievements, though all 

 were very far from the truth. Some said a 

 man was fishing and fell into the river ; others, 

 that he was pushed in ; others, that he jumped 

 in ; others, that he got hold of a tremendous 

 fish and would not let go his rod, and w r as by 

 the fish pulled in. 



Such were the short versions of the story. 

 But there were others much longer, and con- 

 sequently much more full of character and 

 incident. Some Irish Catholics in the neigh- 

 bourhood said that a respectable, stout old 

 gen.tleman, dressed in black, who was a Roman 



