vii FISHERMAN BILLY 109 



what out of place to speak of carp, and, but 

 for Old Billy, I should not have done so, for 

 we are intent on pike, and pike only. Old 

 Billy, however, must always ease his mind 

 on that subject ; in some obscure way he 

 seems to think his own credit and reputa- 

 tion greatly increased by the presence in 

 the pool of fish which are enormous and 

 uncatchable ; possibly, too, he has some un- 

 recognised vein of poetry in him which finds 

 vent in frequent allusion to the wonders of 

 the deep. Having dismissed the carp, how- 

 ever, he brings the punt round to the land- 

 ing-stage without further delay, and points 

 with pride to the live-bait in the bucket ; 

 finer live-bait, he says, you could not see 

 anywhere ; money, in fact, could not buy 

 them. Conceding the point as one which 

 hardly demands emphasis (for Old Billy 

 caught the live -bait himself, and I have 

 fished with him before), I get into the punt 

 and instruct him to push off. 



The pool is some eighty yards in width 

 and some hundred and twenty in length, 

 and it is in parts very deep, bottomless, 

 according to Old Billy. The great river 

 which forms it here plunges over weir- 



