138 ANGLING 



Mazawattee began to look as if the catching fish sometimes was 

 about true after all. It was a sore trial to Mr. Hopper that his 

 pet fishing ground should let him down in this way, and he 

 stuck up for the old river in every possible way he could think 

 of, but it was clear that his mates began to be a bit dubious. 



Well, the long and short of it was that with the exception of 

 a very few small dace, roach, and chub, the morning and 

 afternoon's fishing proved a failure, but it must be borne in 

 mind the heat was intense and there was some little excuse if 

 the fish felt too languid to nibble. Of course the principal dish 

 Mr. Hopper had to offer was the barbel swim, to be fished 

 after tea in the cool of the evening, but he was not very 

 sanguine about it yielding fish in view of its only having been 

 baited the previous afternoon, and yield it did not. Mr. 

 Hopper put as good a face on it as possible, but it was pretty 

 clear McNab and Mazawattee were getting desperate, and 

 were on the point of comparing Fulstow Drain End and 

 Austen Fen or Firebeacon with the Trent and very much to 

 the disparagement of the latter river. However they were good 

 enough temporarily to postpone so invidious a comparison. 

 The next morning all were up with the magpies these are 

 much more numerous at Trent-side than larks and the boat 

 was taken down to Dunham with the luck of finding the best 

 swim in the " Dubbs," already occupied by Billyboy and a 

 friend who were catching a few carp bream, but nothing 

 above 3lbs. or so. Billyboy, like the generous fisherman he is, 

 had no objection to the ferry boat being brought alongside his 

 own, and this was accordingly done, but beyond some eels and 

 some other small fry there was no sport. Even Billyboy's and 

 his friend's bites soon ceased, and it was clear the bream were 

 not properly on. It should be mentioned that there was a few 

 inches rise of water this day which Mr. Hopper could not just 

 then understand, as the mill water is due down the river on 

 Tuesday, and this was Wednesday. However, Mr. Hopper put 

 on his thinking cap and that brought to his dulled senses the 

 fact that the previous Monday was Bank Holiday, and of 

 course the merry millers had not worked that day and con- 



