HORNING TO THE SOURCE OF THE BURE 185 



in which she allows the scriggling worm to drift with the 

 sluggish tide, not over the hole, but just near enough to 

 tempt its occupant, is interesting in the extreme to an onlooker, 

 more especially to one whose soul is full to overflowing with 

 a lurking desire for sport of any kind. One after another 

 does Molly lure forth those slimy lurkers in the mud-holes 

 until there is a goodly array upon the bank. How she held 

 them and extracted the hooks was always a mystery. It 

 looked so easy, so simple, so quick, and yet when attempted 

 by a novice insurmountable difficulties seem to invariably 

 arise. But the scene changes. 



Now she is quietly pacing beside a main drain which leads 

 to the mill. Her sharp little eyes do not leave a yard unex- 

 plored ; soon she halts, beckons him to her side, and points 

 quietly to a sheltered nook where several dykes intersect the 

 marshland. He looks, he sees nothing naught but the water- 

 lilies and the sedges. Looking more into the shadows, as 

 directed, and straining his eyes the harder, he becomes aware 

 of an inanimate log-like form lying near the bank in a cool 

 bower of water-lilies, where the sun is unable to penetrate, 

 and where what little stream there is eddies round. He does 

 not require to be told that it is a pike, but at that early age 

 he does require to be told how to catch it. 



It is Molly who gives the first lesson in snaring. A boot- 

 lace and a broken oar are the implements used, and yet with 

 this ungainly gear she has landed the fish he would never 

 have seen, a 5 J lb. jack, upon the bank in less than five minutes 

 from her first discovery. 



Suchlike and similar scenes flash before him. With Molly 

 as his companion he finds the best runs and the best swims 

 anywhere within five miles of her home. She knows to a 

 minute when the tide will turn, when the fish will be on the 

 feed, and what is the best bait to use. She is the recognised 

 authority ; she is reverenced accordingly. 



He sees himself at flight time, as the mist rises from the 

 marshes, shrouding in an impenetrable veil all objects on his 

 own level, but which does not prevent him discerning wild- 



