THE PIKE, &.C. 
117 
drowned, but by the aid of an attendant, the mule succeeded 
in getting his head above water, and brought the pike on 
shore, still clinging to his mouth. They have also been 
known to devour young goslings, rats, and mice, and when 
placed in ponds with other fish, have sometimes devoured 
them all. 
Smith relates the following story, which serves to show 
the “ruling passion strong in death:” 41 A gentleman was 
once angling for pike, and succeeded in taking a very large 
one, at which time he was encountered by a shepherd and 
his dog. He made the man a present of his fish, and while 
engaged in clearing his tackle, he saw the dog, who had for 
some time been expressing ftis satisfaction by the most une- 
quivocal signs, seat himself unsuspectingly, with his tail at a 
tempting proximity to the jaws of the pike, which suddenly 
caught at it. It would be impossible to express the terror of 
the dog, on finding such an appendage entailed upon him ; 
he ran in every direction to free himself, but in vain, and at 
last plunged into the stream as a last resource — but this was 
equally fruitless. The hair had become so entangled in the 
fish’s teeth, that it could not release its hold ; accordingly, he 
struggled over to the opposite side, now above and now be- 
low the surface. Having landed, the dog made for his mas- 
ter’s cottage with all haste, where he was at length freed 
from his uuwilling persecutor ; yet, notwithstanding the fa- 
tigue the latter had endured, he actually seized and sunk his 
teeth into a stick which was used to force open his jaws.” 
They are known to live to a very great age. A Russian 
with an unpronounceable name,* mokes mention of a pike 
that lived to the age of ninety years ; and Gesner says, one 
was taken in a lake in Suabia, Germany, in 1479, having a 
* As some of our renders may want our authority, and may bo willing 
to run the risk of breaking their jaws, wo give the name, Rzaczksiii. 
