330 BROADLAND SPORT 



In picking a way along the swampy glades of the low- 

 lying alder carr our spirits rose in anticipation of the forth- 

 coming sport, and we pictured in the imagination a record 

 bag. 



The nearer we approached the water, the more convinced 

 were we of the favourable auspices of the day. The 

 sun was vainly endeavouring to break the cloudy barrier 

 which obscured its face, whilst a gentle breeze was 

 bending the tree-tops and blowing the fluff from the reed- 

 heads across the open water, upon which the wavelets rippled 

 and danced in the most inviting manner. 



Yes, it was an ideal day for the sport and we had every 

 intention of taking full advantage of it. 



On turning a corner of the thick fell we were brought to 

 within twenty yards of the boathouse, a primitive thatched 

 shed of picturesque attractions and built upon a small well- 

 chosen promontory of firm land which jutted into the broad. 

 Here a halt was called in order to fit the rods, prepare tackle, 

 refresh the bait kettle and partake of a final nip to luck and 

 prosperity before parting with our attendant and commencing 

 the business of the day in real earnestness. 



The broad covered several acres, whilst its shores were 

 deeply studded with an impassable reed swamp, in which 

 otters loved to dwell, and being only three and a half feet to 

 five feet deep it was a wonder so many pike were to be found 

 there. 



Surrounded by a thick belt of trees and bounded on all 

 sides by marshes, it looked like an oasis on the flat level ; but 

 when the shades of evening fell and the heron winged its 

 way thither over the thick marsh mists, the broad became 

 as weird and uncanny a place as it now looked pleasant and 

 inviting. 



Hubert manned a large cumbersome boat known there- 

 abouts as a reed-flat, and steered a course, before the wind, 

 towards a watcher's house which nestled amongst the Scotch 

 fir trees on the northermost bank, as he had been told that 

 a deep hole existed some thirty yards to the south of it and 



