vii FISHERMAN BILLY 117 



if I am to show anything like a decent 

 basket I must work for it. Requesting 

 Old Billy to modify his croaking, I reel in 

 and take off the floats and snap-tackle, re- 

 placing them by a spinning-trace weighted 

 with a heavy lead. 



My companion pours scorn on the idea 

 of spinning ; I shall catch nothing thus ; I 

 might possibly have caught something 

 worth having with live-bait if that fish had 

 not been returned ; as it is I shall catch 

 nothing anyhow. The idea seems to fill 

 Old Billy with melancholy pleasure in spite 

 of the fact that there is a price on the head 

 of every pike over five pounds killed by me 

 this day. The old man is often like this : 

 if the mood seizes him he will not prophesy 

 good concerning his clients, but evil. I 

 ascribe this to his having once found a dead 

 human body in the river, a proud occurrence, 

 which is one of the landmarks of his life. 

 Whenever he thinks of it he becomes 

 solemn and prophesies evil in a tone of 

 befitting seriousness. Afterwards he will, 

 if allowed, relate the incident, dwelling 

 with unction on the more gruesome details. 

 I do not encourage the charnel-house talk, 



