“Well, postpone the rest for this evening. I think I'll make some casts here. I don't expect any trout, my friend Walton to the contrary. Besides they're out of season now. But I may get something. Get me the rod, Shag!”
“Yes, sah, Colonel! Yes, sah!”
And while the fishing paraphernalia was being put in readiness by his colored servant, Colonel Robert Lee Ashley once more opened the little green book, as though to draw inspiration therefrom. And he read:
“Only thus much is necessary for you to know, and to be
mindful and careful of, that if the pike or perch do breed
in that river, they will be sure to bite first and must
first be taken. And for the most part they are very large.”
“Well, large or small, it doesn't much matter, so I catch some,” observed the colonel.
Then he carefully baited the hook, after he had taken the rod and line from Shag, who handled it as though it was a rare object of art; which, indeed, it was to his master.
“I think we shall go back with a fine mess of perch, Shag,” observed the fisherman.
“Yes, sah, Colonel, dat's what we will,” was the cheerful answer.
“And this time we won't, under any consideration, let anything interfere with our vacation, Shag.”
“No, sah, Colonel. No, sah!”