xiv A SUBURBAN FISHERY 251 



roach swims, which vary from three to five 

 feet in depth. The brethren who fish for 

 roach sometimes have exciting experiences. 

 One day I came upon a brother sitting on 

 his stool with an air of patient expectation, 

 the tip of his roach-pole quivering, and his 

 line running slowly but steadily out. He 

 had, he explained, hooked something ten 

 minutes before which had so far defied his 

 efforts, inasmuch as he was fishing with a 

 cast of single hair and could not employ 

 force. He supposed it to be a big bream ; 

 it was about forty yards away now, but he 

 was not without hopes of landing it. Even 

 as he spoke a great turmoil in the water up- 

 stream confirmed his views as to the distance 

 the fish had travelled, and then he managed 

 to turn it and gradually to recover his line. 

 Some time later I had the pleasure of land- 

 ing the bream for him, a great fish of nearly 

 five pounds. It was a real triumph to have 

 taken it with a single-hair line. 



On another occasion I found a brother 

 lamenting a misfortune that had overtaken 

 him. A large bream, it appeared, had 

 departed with a large portion of his tackle, 

 including the float. I condoled with him, 



