Tragic Fishing Moments 



on a hill, and the pool was on land rented by his 

 father. 



" Say, boys/' he said, with a malicious grin distort- 

 ing his ugly face, " I've given them fish pisen, 'nd if 

 you catch 'em 'nd eat them they'll just naturally pisen 

 you 'nd your family." 



As the horrible import of these words flashed 

 through our minds, destroying at once all our high 

 hopes of fishing, without a moment's reflection and 

 with the shadow of a narrowly averted tragedy, as 

 we believed, hanging over us, we turned and fled the 

 pool precipitately. 



Of course, by the time we got home the absurdity 

 of the boy's statement had seeped through into our 

 minds, and as might be expected we were two highly 

 indignant and mortified boys. 



We wanted to try our luck again the next day, but 

 our mother, fearing the boy might do some bodily 

 harm, would not consent for us to return to the pool, 

 and so, as it turned out, we never saw it again. 

 Neither did we ever have the satisfaction, like Sam 

 Weller, of getting even with our Job Trotter. 



The above, no doubt, is a tame story, not having 

 a single thrill to its credit, nevertheless the incident 

 it relates is still, as it was then, the most tragic of my 

 fishing career one that took all the color out of the 

 landscape and left life not worth living. 



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