"Yes, sah, I'se all ready!"

There was a final rush and swirl in the water. Shag leaned over, his
eyes shining in delight, for the fish was an extraordinarily large one.
He was about to scoop it up in the net, to take the strain off the rod
which was curved like a bow, when there came a streak of something white
sailing through the air. It fell with a splash into the water so close
to the fish that it must have bruised its scaly side, and then, in some
manner, the denizen of the stream, either in a desperate flurry, or
because the blow of the white object broke its hold on the hook, was
free, and with a dart scurried back into the element that was life itself.

For a moment there was portentous silence on the part of Colonel Ashley.
He gazed at his dangling line and at the straightened pole. Then he
solemnly said:

"Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"What happened?"

"By golly, Colonel! dat's whut I'd laik t' know. Must hab been a
shootin' star, or suffin laik dat! I never done see - "

At that moment a drawling voice from somewhere back of the fringe of
trees and bushes broke in with:

"I fancy I made that water hazard all right, though it was a close call.
Which reminds me of the perhaps interesting fact that forty-five and