20 ARTIFICIAL BAIT FOR JACK. [PART I. 
the mortification of finding that. he has parted 
company, and of seeing the wake, like that of 
a screw-steamer, which the fish, perhaps a beast 
of fifteen or twenty pounds, has left as a parting 
token of his size. Pull in your bait and examine 
it, You will see down the sides of it great scores 
looking more as if they had been made by the 
teeth of a leister-spear than of a fish, but all of 
them, if you notice, simply across the bait. That 
has been just the cause of your failure. The Jack 
took it in all earnestness, and held it tight just 
as long as it suited him, without taking any notice 
of the gentle touch you favoured him with. Nay, 
further, being rather hungry, and finding your 
bait fresh and juicy, just what he fancied, he was 
by no means inclined to give it up, and only did 
so at last when he found himself mysteriously 
drawn along with it in a manner which led him 
to apprehend danger. 
Jack will take an artificial bait much more 
readily in some water than others. For instance, 
they may be easily caught with it in the Avon; 
whilst in the Stour, which meets it just below 
Christchurch, it is of little use to fish with any- 
thing but the natural bait. This, no doubt, depends. 
mainly on the comparative supply of small fish. 
