At last they reached the river and the stepping-stones. Here the stream had widened out and was very shallow, great rough masses of pudding stone being laid on the bed to let wayfarers pass over dry-shod. This was, however, a luxury looked upon with great contempt by Harry, who merely drew his trousers into a roll above his knees, and walked straight in all amongst the water-cresses and forget-me-nots which peeped up here and there. Of course, such an example must needs be followed upon the instant, and soon there were three young storks wading about in the shallows.
“Look! look!” said Fred, all at once; “what’s, that?”
They might well look, for with his scales glittering in the morning sun, and making the water surge as he endeavoured to reach a portion of the river more suitable for his bulk, a large pike came down the stream on his side. He was a monster, and seemed nearly a yard long, and so big that the boys could do nothing but stare at him at first; but Harry was not to be put out of countenance by the biggest pike in England, so at him he rushed.
“Come on,” he shouted, “turn him back. If he gets past the stones, the water is deeper, and we shall lose him.”
Philip and Fred closed in, but never put forth a hand to touch the pike. Not so Harry, for he boldly made a dash at it, and caught hold of the slippery monster, who gave a flash with his tail, and was off yards away, with Harry in full pursuit; and this time, the water being shallower, he managed to give a good kick at the fresh-water shark, but only one, for the fish gave another shoot, and was gone.
“There’s a brute!” said Harry. “He might just as well have been caught. Wasn’t he a thumper?”
“Let’s get some water-cresses and take home,” said Phil.
“Where are there any?” said Fred, who had never seen them growing before.
“Why, here, all about; here’s lots and lots.”
So the lads set to, and picked a goodly bunch a piece, Philip remembering, too, a little bouquet of forget-me-nots for his mother; and then, landing on the opposite side, they strolled up the river to see if they could see Harry’s friend, the pike, but, no! he was invisible; and not to be wondered at, after the manner in which he had been treated. Still, though there was no pike, there was plenty else to be seen, for the fish were rising all over the river; and out in the bright calm places great chub were lazily basking in the warm sun. On every shallow, shoals of roach and dace appeared, and rushed out in silvery squadrons over the pebbly bottom; while the minnows and gudgeon seemed as though they had been drilled, so regularly and closely they kept together as they darted out into the middle of the river.