“I am going to paternoster for perch, and I’ll take the casting-net to get some small fry.”
“Oh, dear! why can’t you wait until the morning?”
“It is morning. It is four o’clock and broad daylight.”
“Then go, and don’t come back until breakfast time.” And I drew the curtains over the windows, and tried to think it was quite dark, and to get to sleep again.
On awaking I heard the sound of a piano. My first thought was, “Where am I?” I found that I was on the boat, sure enough, and it was seven o’clock. There was no more sleep for me, for a wherry, fitted up as a yacht, was lying near, and her crew had not only got a piano on board, but played upon it at seven o’clock in the morning. It is an excellent plan to rig up a wherry in this way for a cruise, as good accommodation for a large party is secured, and the interior can be well divided into several sleeping-rooms. The presence of ladies aboard the wherry, and up so early, was rather a nuisance, as one had to row away for one’s dip. Up to eight o’clock, the Broad is generally sacred to the men, who can take their plunge overboard with safety.
Presently Wynne came back.
“Well, what have you caught?”
“Two jack, about five pounds each, and three perch, about a pound each. If I could have got some minnows I should have done better, but the roach I got were too large for paternostering, and not lively enough. I got into a row, too. I found a bow net set among the weeds, and there were three large tench in it. As I took it up to look at it, its owner appeared, and slanged me considerably at first; but when he cooled down, he got talkative, and told me that the reaches of the river by Salhouse and Hoveton Broads are the best for pike, but that all the way down to Horning Ferry is good. By the way, I saw a lot of boats fishing on the Broad when I set out, and they went on to the river when they saw me. The Broad is not preserved, is it?”
“No; but one of the owners, Mr. Chamberlin, levies a tax of 2s. 6d. on fishermen, and as it goes to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, one ought to pay it willingly. Poor men can’t pay it, so they fish on the Broad in the early morning, and then leave for the river. They walk here from Norwich, overnight, and begin to fish before daylight, and as they can get a boat at Wroxham for a shilling a day, it is not an expensive pastime for them.”
“I saw some notice boards at Salhouse, but there was so much on them, and the letters were so small, that I could not read them, but I suppose they were meant to warn people off.”