caught six pike, but what rather astonished me was that they were all under five pounds in weight. When we were halfway round a second time, just off the mouth of a weedy bay, my rod gave a great lunge, and was nearly torn out of my hand. I struck, and it was evident that I was fast in mighty fish.

"Keep him away from the weeds," exclaimed my companion; "you have caught a whopper, and no mistake."

There was no need for his caution to keep the fish away from the weeds. The pike made straight for the centre of the mere, running out my line at a fearful rate. I let go the line grudgingly, for I expected him to make a dash back for the weeds, when my line would be doubled-up and I should lose my fish. But the pike had no such intention. He went straight ahead, without pausing in his steady rush, until my line, which was eighty yards long, was nearly all out. I gave him the butt, and held on until I thought my rod would have broken, in the hope of turning him; but he still went on, and then, as my rod was stanch and my line was strong, our boat began to move after the pike.

"By Jove! this is wonderful," said my friend. "You have hooked a leviathan. Play him steadily and skilfully, and don't get excited."

Now that was very good advice if it could be carried out; but as the speaker was already white

and trembling with excitement, and I was, if anything, worse, his advice was not of much use. Well, I stood in the bows of the boat, and the monster towed us with increasing swiftness right across the lake, which was about a quarter of a mile broad at this part. When we came to the weeds at the other side of the mere he turned back again; and to prevent undue strain on the rod in turning the boat, I ran to the other end of it, and we were towed back again in precisely the same way, and at a fair three miles an hour pace. Our excitement was fast turning to awc when, on reaching the other side of the mere, the brute turned again, and began to make a slow détour of the lake, stopping every now and then to sulk at the bottom, but never allowing us to get back much of our line, or to catch a glimpse of him. In this way two hours passed away, and the case began to assume a serious aspect.

"Don't get into a funk, old man. I have seen salmon take very much longer to kill; and I have heard of one being on nineteen hours at a stretch, and when he was caught he was not a very big one, either."

“Aye, that is all very well for a salmon, but a pike does not fight so long. I saw a thirty-three pounder killed in a quarter of an hour, so this must be a veritable shark."

Well, matters went on in this way until four hours had elapsed, and still we seemed no nearer

to the end. Then seventy yards away there was a huge "boil" at the top of the water, and the strain on the rod slackened.

"Hurrah! there he is. He is beginning to give in. It will only be a short time now."

My friend was right. Little by little I wound in my line, and nearer and nearer the monster came. At last we could distinctly see him rushing and wallowing about with widely-distended mouth, in the clear water. In length he was about five feet, and his weight, it is clear, must have been eighty pounds. What a proud man I felt at that moment! All my hopes were on the point of being realised. I drew him slowly and carefully in, and my friend struck the gaff into him, and then our united efforts

"Hallo! what's that knocking for?"

"Here's your hot water, sir, and breakfast will be ready in half an hour."

"Oh, murder! where is the big pike?" I exclaimed, looking about. Alas! it was only a dream.

I had very good sport that day and the following, but not a fish was over ten pounds in weight, and my big pike has yet to be caught.

THE maxim that one half the world does not know how the other half lives, may, with but slight variation, be applied to the world of sportsmen. The 66 sportsman" is not of any particular class. The highest in the land and the lowest may rub shoulders in the broad field of sport. This is peculiarly true as regards the gentle art. Wandering by the side of an unpreserved stream, you may see my lord casting a fly over this shallow, and, twenty yards farther down, Tinker Ben seated by the side of a chub-hole watching his float circling round in the eddy; and as the noble passes the boor an honest angler's greeting may be exchanged, and a light for the latter's pipe asked for and given. It may be taken as a general rule that between anglers who pursue their sport by fair means there is a levelling freemasonry of the craft which is as pleasant as it is right.

Between the fair fisherman and the poacher there is, however, a broad line of demarcation-a line which bars the interchange of even the commonest civilities on the mutual ground of pursuing the same object. The fair fisherman hates the man who

captures the finny tribe by unfair or illegal means as strongly as a fox-hunter hates a fox-kilier, or a strict Sabbatarian hates a sinner who enjoys a Sunday afternoon's walk and the glimpses of nature it may afford him. There is also a line drawn between the man who fishes for amusement alone and him who fishes for profit. The division in the latter instance may not be so broad as in the former, but nevertheless it is wide enough to distinctly separate the two classes. Now we think the fair and amateur angler is, in a great many nstances, unaware of the shifts and dodges adopted by the poacher and pot-hunter to fill their pockets, and of the consequent hindrance to his own sport. Therefore, by way of warning, of information, and possible amusement, we have noted down a few of the instances which have come under our own observation. And as we do not expect any poacher to read this book, our revelations will do no harm by way of suggestion.

Let any one take a boat and row down the sluggish Yare from the commission-haunted old city of Norwich, as the shades of evening are darkening the river, and he will see several uncouth, rough-looking boats being slowly impelled down-stream by rougher-looking men. He will notice that they have short, stout rods and long poles in their boats; and if he watches them, he will presently see them take up their stations by the margin of some reed-bed, or in a quiet bay of