CHAPTER XVIII 

 A DAY WITH AN ARTIFICIAL 



A retrospective vision of the Trent The outfit I carried A notable 

 hailstorm Joe Corah's big pike Collingham Wharf and Carlton 

 Ferry The Sentry Box and what I found " Grinning Girton " 

 and Sutton Holmes Marnham, Clifton, and Dunham Reach. 



A WIDE stretch of the old Trent, that flows from 

 Collingham Wharf down to Dunham Bridge, is 

 where I would like you to accompany me for this trip with 

 an artificial bait ; to see if we cannot sample some of the 

 excellent jack that used to hurl themselves from the water 

 round that bend known as Foottitts Corner ; or in that 

 swim nearly opposite Carlton Church ; or lower down 

 towards the Sentry Box and Meering Ferry. 



I can call to mind just now a beautiful morning in early 

 October. The early morning frosts had not as yet put 

 in an appearance, or only slightly. The leaves on the 

 trees were beginning to change from green to a variety 

 of delicate browns and yellows, and autumn in all its 

 loveliness was bursting into full-grown beauty. Swallows 

 were not hawking by odd ones, but they were slowly flying 

 backwards and forwards in a huge battalion, getting ready 

 for their long southward migration. The harvest I re- 

 member that year had been late, and isolated wagons were 

 still gathering in the golden grain. 



My notebook says there had been a week or more of 

 heavy rain, followed by a fast-rising water, and a swirling, 

 brown-coloured torrent. All this had nearly cleared away, 



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