They might have gone on laughing for quite a time, but
Charlie Jones interrupted by saying that in his opinion
a landing net is a piece of darned foolishness. Here
Popley agrees with him. Kernin objects that if you don't
use a net you'll lose your fish at the side of the boat.
Jones says no: give him a hook well through the fish and
a stout line in his hand and that fish has _got_ to come
in. Popley says so too. He says let him have his hook
fast through the fish's head with a short stout line,
and put him (Popley) at the other end of that line and
that fish will come in. It's _got_ to. Otherwise Popley
will know why. That's the alternative. Either the fish
must come in or Popley must know why. There's no escape
from the logic of it.
But perhaps some of my readers have heard the thing
discussed before.
So, as I say, we decided to go the next morning and to
make an early start. All of the boys were at one about
that. When I say "boys," I use the word, as it is used
in fishing, to mean people from say forty-five to
sixty-five. There is something about fishing that keeps
men young. If a fellow gets out for a good morning's
fishing, forgetting all business worries, once in a
while--say, once in ten years--it keeps him fresh.
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