WAYS OF FRESH-WATER FISHES. 173 



gone out fishing. The boy was little, and he 

 teased his father so much to let him fish also, that 

 the man put a dead gudgeon on part of a broken 

 jack-line, placed the child on the bank where the 

 water was so shallow that he could not possibly 

 drown himself if he tried to do so, and then left him. 

 Close to the boy's feet was part of a broken wattle, 

 kept in place by a couple of stumps, for the bank 

 was a little loose just there. Whilst the boy was 

 drawing his dead dudgeon to and fro — fishing, as 

 he termed it — something poked its head out and 

 nipped his gudgeon, leaving the hook bare. The 

 boy just caught sight of the head, and it puzzled 

 him. Off he ran to his father. "Dad," said he, 

 " I want another gudgeon, for a great toad hev got 

 the fust un." 



His father walked back with him to see the place 

 where the toad took the fish. On the boy's tackle 

 he fixed another dead gudgeon, and he drew it 

 backwards and forwards as before. Out shot the 

 head, took the bait, and vanished ; but he was 

 hooked this time : not captured, however, for when 

 a strain was put on him, he threw his tail over a 

 bit of the wattle — it was nearly level with the sand 



