EELS AND EEL BOBBING 31 



occasions three eels are pulled up together, although we do 

 not always land them in the boat. 



Having enjoyed excellent sport for upwards of three- 

 quarters of an hour the eels seem to leave as suddenly as 

 they came, and although we remain in the same place for 

 another half-hour, we do not secure sufficient to tempt 

 us to linger any longer. 



Returning to the Broad, we lay-to near a reed bed, 

 which is dissected by a broad dyke leading up to an over- 

 grown pulk hole,* where we obtain very fair sport, although 

 nothing like so good as that obtained near the entrance to 

 the backwater. But one eel captured here amply repays 

 our patience, and subsequently pulls down the scale at nearly 

 a pound weight. When hauling him on board we could not 

 help thinking our bob had caught in some large bed of 

 weeds, of which there were a quantity in the immediate 

 neighbourhood, as the pull seemed so inanimate. 



As it was now well past midnight, we thought it advisable 

 to make tracks for home to tumble in between the sheets. 



Was it the night air or the liberal potations from 

 the stone jar and whisky bottle that made us so sleepy ? 

 In our belief we incline to the former, but in any event 

 we lean back in the comfortable stern-sheets, listening ta 

 the regular measure of the oars as they disturb the surface 

 of the Broad, and to the weird cries of the waterfowl from 

 the reed beds and swamps beyond, where they were now 

 revelling in the full enjoyment of perfect security from their 

 many enemies. In this position we almost fall asleep, 

 and dream that we are miles away in other latitudes. 



Suddenly a crash arouses us and we start to our feet, 

 under the impression we have struck a stake and may have 

 the enforced indulgence of a cold swim before coming to the 

 shore ; but our old friend assures us there is no occasion for 

 alarm that we have merely bumped against a yacht's moor- 

 ing, which proved us to be not far from our destination. 

 He is right in his prophecies, and a few minutes later we ar& 



* A small pond in the swampy reed margin of a broad. 



