236 By Stream and Sea. 



nor was it without a pang that one speculated as to when, if 

 ever, one should again breathe the pure air of those splendid 

 Broads which in winter teem with wild fowl, and from whose 

 waters, in the quietude of many a summer morning, one had 

 captured the shining bream until one's arms ached with the 

 exercise. Doubtless, as the short January day was closing, 

 and as we paced the deck and called up many a delightful 

 angling reminiscence, the gunners and punters were out upon 

 the muddy banks of the creeks, in their flat-bottomed boats, 

 looking after ducks and geese,, and bagging an occasional 

 rara avis driven thither during the storms of the previous 

 month. 



Why, but a week since, a piscatorial friend in one of 

 the lovable angling clubs of town had filled me with envy 

 and desire as he told his experiences with yacht and gun 

 upon this coast, and to-day each land-bound bird seemed to 

 be a messenger from that snug room with Frank Buckland's 

 grand cast of the giant pike taken in Windsor Park on the 

 sideboard, a tray of fine perch, pike, and roach fresh from 

 the Thames on the table, and Rolfe's inimitable pictures (the 

 genial artist was himself one of the company) interspersed 

 with the stuffed fish on the walls. Oh ! excellent true 

 Waltonians, Stanley anglers, and West End Piscatorials, 

 when shall I look upon your like again ? 



It was not till the morning of the third day that we were 

 emancipated from the bondage of fog and shoal, and able to 

 put our pilot over the side in the Downs. Then the voyage 

 commenced in good earnest ; familiar landmarks passed in 

 review; at night the brilliant beacon of St. Catherine's at 

 the back of the Isle of Wight gleamed boldly over the 

 waters, and a soft haze of light brooding over the land 

 marked the whereabouts of Ventnor, where, one might dare 

 assert, midwinter though it were, you could find a bouquet 



