did that with a vengeance, jerking the pike sharply enough to pull a donkey up to a standstill. The pike was so alarmed and amazed, never having been served so in his life before, that he sprang clean out of the water like a trout, came down head first into a mass of weeds, and buried himself in them like a pig in straw. "You've lost him!" I cried. "Not I," rejoined my friend; "he's safe enough. Come out of it!" and with that he hauled a mass of weeds ashore that would have overfilled a bushel measure. When we parted the weeds, in the centre of them was one of the most silvery thick 8-lb. pikes that we had ever seen or ever shall see. After that we found more pike in that secluded bit of water, all of that same stamp and quality. Numbers of them were hauled out by that happy contrivance of picture-cord and snare-wire. We two meet one another at times now, and no matter what the topic of conversation may be, it is sure soon to drift round to that lonely pool; and it is our united opinion that if we had allowed those fat pike to remain there, they must infallibly have died eventually of apoplexy. From the stream that ran by this pond little rills flowed through the lush water - meadows, which were covered in their season with the king-cups, the yellow iris, and many other plants that flourish in such localities. The rills were clear as crystal, having sandy bottoms, about a foot in depth. Here loach of large size were to be found in abundance; six inches in length they were, the finest baits possible for the pike and perch of the river Mole. I have tried all the various baits there, but the very best were the fine stone loaches from these rills. Miller's-thumbs, bullheads, or bull-trouts, were plentiful; with them we did not interfere, although, like the loach, they are excellent eating. If you make a skeleton of the miller's - thumb, the head looks curiously monkey-like. Water-shrews had their home here. I have spent hours in watching the habits of these little creatures. Where the rills widened out into ditches the water-rats, or water-voles, had their holes. Two varieties I knew there-the common brown vole and the black water-vole. The latter is smaller than his more common relative, and, when he is sitting on the bank, looks like a small ball of dark velvet. I saw one lately on the banks of the same small ditch. I have seen the pike, too, swim up that brook in the way that the late Richard Jefferies observed them in his own county. As a fellow field-naturalist, I would pay my tribute of praise, and express my perfect appreciation of the work of one of the most minute and truthful observers that England has ever known. He has now solved those secrets of nature, doubtless, that puzzled him here. As to myself, I am at the present time nearer sixty than fifty years of age; I enjoy first-rate health; my eyesight, thank God ! is as keen as it was at twenty-five; and I am as capable of a twenty miles' trudge over the moorlands as I was in the days of my youth. From my childhood I have studied natural life, but not for profit: until a few years ago I never wrote a line about what I knew or had seen for the public eye to rest on. And so I feel competent, as one of nature's children, to give an opinion as to the value of the work of my lamented fellow-naturalist, Richard Jefferies. Let us climb the hills once more from Hackhurst downs on Our way to Ranmore common. From here a bridle-path passes in front of the mansion of beautiful Denbies. We have one of the most lovely views of woodland scenery that it is possible for any one to look on. There is the whole length of the Holmesdale valley, with the hills on either side of it. We see mansions thickly dotted in all directions, where some years ago there was not a house to be seen. Retracing our steps from this point, and walking over the common and on to Westhumble, we find Box Hill fronting us. In spite of the changes following in the wake of fresh bricks and mortar, delightful remnants of what has been are still to be found. One spot I often visit,-a large pool, a half-choked-up millpond, with a current running through the middle of it, and bare expanses of soft slub, where flag and iris, tasselled grasses and rushes, and stunted willow growth, flourish most luxuriantly. This and the heron comes to see what There was a tradition about the pond in connection with a secret outlet said to run from it into the water-meadows. In most traditions there is a grain, at least, of truth. An individual I knew well - he is still alive, although sadly grizzled and battered with the wear and tear of a very nomadic way of living-who was of an inquiring turn of mind, set to work to solve the problem of the exact whereabouts of that secret outlet. He found it, but he kept the knowledge of it to himself. This man dealt with the miller for siftings, pea-meal, and other matter for the fattening of his porkers; so that he generally had one sack, if not more, in his house, with the names of the miller and his mill marked on it in full. Not only was the outlet discovered by him, but he opened it and let out the water. So cleverly did he manage this, that by the morning the pond was full again to the edge, without anything to tell how the affair had been contrived. I was rarely in bed after four o'clock in the morning nine months out of the twelve, and on that particular morning my work took me past the mill-pond at my usual early hour. To my astonishment pool must possess some peculiar attraction for all the birds of passage that affect such localities, either for purposes of breeding or for food; for here, in their migrating seasons of spring and autumn, come curlew, plover, dunlins these, by the way, have a great portion of their full breeding plumage about them-sandpipers, the common or willy wicket, and the rarer green sandpiper. Geese come at longer intervals, ducks are common, teal visit it now and again, terns frequently, and gulls that, from some reason or another only known to themselves, are tempted to stay their flight for a time and to rest here-a treacherous enough resting-place to some of them. Snipe, also, visit the place-wisps of them zigzag up at I found the water-meadow nearest times, according to the season; the pond turned into a shallow look here; ye just take this here big un home with yer-ye'll find it fine eatin'!” lagoon, in which great pike and other fish were rushing about like rockets, making the golden tops of the king-cups nod about in a The guardian of the night acmost extraordinary fashion. I cepted that splendid pike, and suppose it was very wrong of me, marched off a happy man-the but how I laughed and rubbed my pike on one side, balanced by his hands in glee to see the fun staff on the other. As I noted and the sight of that harlequin- the broad tail of the fish flopping like fellow, with his trousers against his leg from the inside of tucked up to his knees, a "three- his coat, "Pat Haggerty's wedspeened fork," as he termed it, ding" popped into my head— in his hand, as busy as a bee in a "Where the bride she was dressed in tar-pot, harpooning the fish with A short-bodied gown, the greatest ease. He had some Jist made in the fashion, fine specimens of pike already laid out on the grass when I arrived. As I stood there enjoying the scene, who should appear but the village constable returning from his beat of night duty. Nothing daunted, Harlequin saluted him with a cheery good morning. "What game is this, then?" queried the guardian of the peace and of the place. "A werry nice un I calls it," replied Harlequin, as he harpooned another pike, that I judged at least to be twelve pounds in weight. "You see," he continued, "he," jerking his thumb in the direction of the mill-house, "keeps a lot of ducks, as you knows well; an' he's lost a lot o' the young uns lately with these 'ere jacks, so he comes tu me rather late last night, an' says he to me, I shell let some o' the water off, quite unbeknown to anybody,-some o' they jacks is sure tu find their way out into the medder: yo' git up early, as soon as 'tis light, an' settle some on 'em off.' He says that tu me, an' I'm a-doin' of it. An' he give me one o' his sacks fur tu put 'em in; then, says he, if anybody cums an' interferes with yer, they'll see as ye're doin' it fur me. An' all the jacks as yo' settles yo' can keep fur yerself! But, bless ye! what should I du with such a lot? Now, The tail hangin' down." As soon as the constable was out of sight, we both roared with laughter. To this day the real state of the case is not known, nor where that very mysterious outlet is. The receiver of the pike has passed over to the majority long ago, and the miller was never the wiser. I kept poor Harlequin's secret, as I have done many another of the sort in my day. A Of all our Surrey mills, pleasantest to me are the Woodland valley mills, shut out as they are from all sounds of traffic-cool and quiet spots surrounded by trees. flight of old brick steps led down from the mill-head into the garden, and then you saw the miller's house, -one I often visited and rested in. The dusty outside look did not extend to the interior of the house, for the low-ceilinged rooms with beams running across them were kept in perfect order. The furniture was of oldfashioned mahogany, solid and good; and the miller and his wife were a grave kindly couple, quite in keeping with their surroundings. He was not given to much expression in the matter of religion, and he did not go to church so regularly as his wife, a quiet staid woman, who might be seen walking through the beech woods two miles to church every Sunday morning. She had a profound respect for the clergy and all relating to the Established Church; he had a hearty regard and admiration for his landlord, the squire. He had stronger opinions about fishing than he had on religious questions. I remember his finding a fellow fishing with the spoon-bait for pike, and the man was quickly made to wind up and go, for he would have no dumb creatures tortured; one hook, he said, was quite enough. With respect to the mill-stream proper, independently of the mill-pool, his ideas and sentiments were of the most conservative nature. The trout were for the squire and the squire's friends only. Even to hint at a day's possible fishing was enough to get you excommunicated by the miller. No keeper ever watched his coveys of partridges with more jealous care than that miller did the trout that lived in his portion of the stream. Yet he was once tricked out of a day's fishing by a supposed clergyman, compared with whom my poor Harlequin was a saint. I shall never forget the wrath and disgust with which he related the story to I give it as the miller told it, a few days after it occurred. me. "Just after breakfast there came a rap at the door, which mother answered. Then she told me that there was a strange gentleman, a very respectable-looking clergyman, inquiring for me. I went out, and he at once held out his hand, saying, 'Good morning, Mr Dash, -good morning to you; I must introduce myself. I am the vicar of G- and my old college friend, your worthy and esteemed landlord, wrote me an invitation to come and have a day's fishing over VOL. CXLIX.-NO. DCCCCIV. here. He knows my weakness for the gentle sport, and he said I was to come to you, with his compliments, for instruction where it was best to go, and about other matters concerning the limits of his water.' He said, too, as how he was going to dine with the squire that same evening, and that he should then be able to give an account of his success through the day. "So I left the mill to my chap, and showed the stranger all the best places where I knew the heavy fish lay, and then left him to it. About ten o'clock I went to see how he was getting on. The fellow could fish, no doubt about that. I looked at him as he threw, and I thought to myself, if all parsons is like you they're uncommon active with trout, whatever they may be with men: he'd got eight or nine good ones already. ""You see,' says he, 'thanks to you, my good friend, I'm labouring in a fruitful vineyard. The flesh is weak, though, this morning, and in the excitement caused by the prospect of a day's fishing, and seeing my old college friend, I omitted to bring the needful refreshment with me. Do you think there is a possibility of anything being procured in the neighbourhood-any good inn near to which I could go?' "I told him there was none nearer than two miles away, but that he would be heartily welcome to anything there might happen to be in our house mother has a weakness for parsons, you know, so I was all right there. "Do you say home-brewed, my dear friend?' he went on; 'never since my boyhood have I tasted that fine drink of Old England. I feel my youth come back at the very name of it. Yes; gladly will S I accept of your hospitality;' and a lot more stuff of the same sortabout lines in pleasant places and the like. Well, mother laid the cloth in the best room, and she even put her own best bib and tucker on, in honour of the clerical gentleman. He washed his hands, and in he came; looked it over, and then said a grace. After that he set to work, praised our beer, called it nectar for the immortals, emptied the jug,-three pints it held,—and praised mother's bread and cheese too. He talked us right over, both of us-asked us if we went to church. I told him mother did, wet or fine. Then he got on his legs and gave us a bit of a sermon on true religion and outward forms, and the grand old Church of England, finishing up with Christian charity, which was, he said, just what he had had from us that day. 'On my return to my vicarage,' he said, 'I will at once send, for your acceptance, one of the most costly Bibles that the town of G can supply; and may peace and plenty rest on this house for evermore.' Mother cried a bit, he brought it all out so solemn like. Now, my kind friends,' he finished up with, ‘I am but a humble shepherd of the flock, but you have my blessing. I will now proceed to fish again.' There was some more stuff about the partner of my joys, and he trusted of few sorrows, and then he took his leave. "I went with him up stream, telling him not to fish in the other water, and then we shook hands. As he pulled out his handkerchief to wipe his face, out came a short, dirty clay - pipe, a regular pothouse pipe, not even such a one as you and me might use. That struck me curious like. I'll watch you, my clerical gentleman, a bit,' I said to myself, and instead of going home I slipped round another way. Well, he was over on the other ground, where he'd been told not to go, like a shot, and had a fine one from there, quick. Then I showed myself, and told him he'd no right there. 'It's all right, my friend,' said he; 'the owner of this property is also a friend of mine. I will leave the fish at his door as I pass, on my way to the Hall.' "Said I, 'I'm going that road myself, and I will carry it for you.' 6 "No, no, my dear friend. I could not let it be a burden to you, especially after your great hospitality to me.' : "That did not quite satisfy me, but I let him start, and then followed him up. He gave me the double he did not go the house road, so I made for the way to the station, where a man told me he had just met a parson running along, full trot. He was not in the station, and I made for the public. There I found our clerical humbug sitting down, drinking grog, that same clay-pipe in his mouth; and as I live he was actually singing, 'Catch 'em alive, oh! catch 'em alive!' "He could not see me where I stood in the bar-he was inside the parlour. I'll catch you alive just now, my gentleman,' I said, and I waited for him to come out into the street. There I fixed him. "You canting villain !' I cried, 'what do you mean by this swindle?' 'Looking me full in the face, he said, 'My dear friend, permit me to suggest that you are labouring under some strange delusion. I am afraid that you have somewhat overstepped the bounds of prudence by too free indulgence in intoxicating liquor. Allow me to go my way in peace.' |