86 AN ANGLER AT LARGE 



been a trout his surprise was very natural. " It 

 was a rat," I mumbled, my finger in my mouth. 

 " A rat ? " he cried, and vanished. I thought him 

 unsympathetic, thereby wronging him utterly. 

 The blood gushed ; I went up to the mill, my 

 mind dark with misgivings. Blood poisoning, in 

 my imagination, had already set in, and by the 

 time I beheld the man of science hurrying towards 

 me through the gloom my arm had been ampu- 

 tated. This extreme measure had failed, and they 

 were measuring me for my coffin. Slattery carried 

 a little thing like a slate pencil in his hand. He 

 explained that it was a rod of lunar caustic, which, 

 just before leaving his house that morning, he 

 had found lying about and had slipped into his 

 pocket. It was the first time he had ever carried 

 such a thing with him. I swear that this hap- 

 pened. 



Thus, with a sharp burning sensation, ended this 

 eventful day. Fishing I had had none, but with a 

 swift, a duck's egg, a waterhen, and a rat to my 

 credit, I could not complain that I had lacked 

 sport. We trudged home to Willows, I nursing 

 my finger. At the gate my wife met me. " Any 

 luck ? " she inquired, with her usual hopeful smile. 

 I felt in my creel for the egg. It was smashed. 

 " Nothing," said 1. " What ! " she cried. " Not a 



