21 



as wise as one of yourselves. You have 

 been winding a long reel about that pike, 

 Oliver, but you do not relate the most inte- 

 resting part of the feat that the fish at one 

 period of the contest had the better of the 

 angler. I was a short distance up the stream, 

 attending to my own sport, when I heard a 

 loud splash, and on running towards the 

 place, there was this simple fisherman floun- 

 dering about in the water, holding his rod 

 with both hands, and the pike making off 

 with him, when I luckily dragged him out. 

 In strict justice, the merit of taking the pike 

 belongs to me. 



Oliver. I do not deny it. I only wish 

 that you had made a little more haste, and 

 not laughed quite so loudly. 



BurrelL Who could help laughing? 

 And then the hubbub and the loud ha ! ha ! 

 brought out the miller's wife to see if any of 

 her live stock had fallen into the water; 

 and when she found that it was neither calf 

 nor pig, she sent down kind, motherly 

 D 



