72 THE SONG OF THE REEL. 



By-and-by, our pike, long since a terror to all the smaller fry, 

 including the younger members of his own family, began to assert 

 himself as supreme lord and tyrant of the mere. 



Little opportunity, however, had he for gaining experience of 

 the angler's wily ways, for it was seldom that a fisherman cast a 

 bait into those gloomy waters. Nevertheless, he learned to discern 

 the difference in the vibrations caused by the approach of a clumsy 

 human being and that of a beast. Occasionally man had thrown 

 stones at him what time he basked in the sunshine ; but the horses, 

 cattle and deer, which came daily to drink from the mere, gave no 

 sign of enmity. From the former unapproachable demon he deemed 

 it wise to flee ; but ofttimes he would lie almost in the shadows of 

 the quaffing brutes. 



Incidents, trivial or momentous, gave interest to his life ; faith- 

 fully he performed the duties of a piscine husband ; fiercely he fought 

 and bullied his relatives ; proudly he asserted his power and 

 displayed his lordly airs. Once, whilst he lay motionless amongst 

 the weeds, a plump roach swam quietly past his lair, as such fish 

 were wont to do. Darting out upon his prey, he seized it ; but, to 

 his great astonishment, his mouth was violently and sharply stung. 

 Instinctively he darted for a stake that, fortunately for him, was 

 near at hand, and around which he circled wildly. Then, setting 

 up his back, he tugged with all his might. For several days after- 

 wards, something or other, he knew not what, remained firmly fixed 

 in his upper jaw, and defied all his efforts to remove it. Eventually, 

 however, he succeeded in ridding himself of this curious and un- 

 desirable encumbrance. 



Heavier and heavier he grew, and likewise increased in cunning 

 and voracity. In solitary state he roamed his domain, poised 

 statue-like in the weeds, and took a heavy toll of fair-sized fish. He 

 lurked by the reedy margin of the mere ; he chased the shoals of 

 fry upon the shallows. He preyed upon his kith and kin ; de- 

 voured water-rats and wrought havoc amongst the ducklings. 

 Fearless of aught he reigned supreme, the unassailable tyrant of his 

 dominion. 



