A SURREY RIVER. 115 



than another, there you might be sure to find them. 

 They knew well, perhaps, that where fish, fowl, or 

 fur have favourable localities, good food, and undis- 

 turbed possession, they grow larger than elsewhere, 

 and so they often visited that particular spot by 

 which my path frequently ran. 



A mighty pike had his home there, a fact they 

 were also well acquainted with. Deep pools, fringed 

 on their edges with rushes and water-lilies were 

 there ; and runs of shallower water that ran with a 

 sharper current from one pool into the other. Roach 

 and chub of large size were to be seen swimming 

 from pool to pool through these runs. Frequently 

 there would be a swirl in the deep water, and the 

 roach would leap clean out of it pursued by the 

 pike ; and the chub would fly like dark shadows 

 under the great roots that ran in there. 



One day — it was a gloomy one with a stiff breeze 

 ruffling the surface of the water — a youth I knew 

 had, by some unusual persuasive power, obtained 

 leave to accompany this couple. His father, by the 

 way, kept a public -house, and sold good liquor, 

 which might have had something to do with it. 

 Well, this young angler hooked a good chub in one 



