Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1875-11-10
A Legend of the Thames.

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''Father," said Ned Moffat, "Charley
and have been having days fishing
in the Thames, and the young fellow
Banks. who took us out in the punt,
was such characterl I'm sure you
would have liked him. He told US all
sorts of stories about the place, and the
people, and the fish, aud all about him
self when a boy, and how he had been
a teetotaler all his life, and that the spot
near the weir where we fished for barbel
was called Marcus Deep-Why, father,
are you ill?"
81 shall be well directly, Ned. Let
Malcomb take away the dessert and
throw open one of the windows. There,
there; am better now"
Mr.. Moffatt was a retired West India
merchant, widower with two sons, for
whom he seemed TO live, and they re-
turned his love with all the fullness of
filial affection. They were home for
the holidays from Harrow, and their
father was necessarily deyising schemes
for their pleasure during the few days
left of their vacation.
ssAnd was Charley as pleased with his
sport and the fisherman as you were.
Ned? What did you catch 20
"Oh, we got such lot of all sorts of
fish-gudgeons on the shadows, perch
and roach in the quiet water; but the
big fellows, those barbel, they did pull
so-we got them in Marcus Deep"
Again Ned noticed a shadow a twitch,
a spasm, or a compound of all, pass over
his fathers face, which this time, it
was apparent, he attempted to conceal
by turning his back, and covering his
face with both hands.
ssFather,'' cried both boys, for Char
lev had noticed the sudden change in
his parent likewise, "what can we do
for YOU? Will YOU see DIR. Seton?"
"No, nor' exclaimed Mr.. Moffat; sit
is merely a passing pang from an awak-
ened memory, the recollection of which
is too horrible 10 recall without anguish. {.
Draw your chairs closer, and / will tell
YOU what has disturbed me so. You
will be the first to whom | have whis-
pered il, for L did not even make your
dear mother the repository of my secret
Ned and Charley, struck dumb by the
serious voice and visage of their father,
mechanically did as they were bid.
Well, boys" began Mr.. Moffatt, Il
y
this country for the West Indies, making
over nv affairs TO the agency ofa friend,
To whom stated neither reasons nor eX-
cuse for nv sudden departure or rather
NV fight. Ny affairs at the time were
prosperous, and therefore no prejudieial
suspicion attached to my resolution; at
the most. perhaps, among my acquaint-
ances. il was thought Ia he attributable
.ar that fine n NJ
heart was as free a air, and every cir
cumstance tended to heap fortune and
happiness on my head, until one fatal
morning. You will perhaps be sur
prised to hear that, at the period speak
of. the only resource l cared for from
the anxieties of business-which, must
say. went smoothly and easily with me
was angling, the art, the love for
which you appear to have inherited
from me. and TO which attachment have
scarcely ever trusted myself TO allude
until now. Saturdays were the days
appropriated during the season to my
fayorite pursuit In order to follow il
10 the full, rented and furnished little
cottage on the banks of the Thames.
There | used To run down on the Friday
NIGHTS. be up with the sun i'm the morn
ing. and find my fisherman ready with
tackle. punt. and all things needfui TO
get afloat. This was now the happiest
norton of nv life, for the confinement
of the previous part of the week i'll
murky London. prepared me for pleas
ure Keen and intense. Then the calm
ness and sweet peace of the succeeding
day more than armed me for the recur-
RING city routine. Well, the last Satur-
day that 1 ever held rod or saw the
morning mists clear off from the Thames,
was out long before their dews were
,lispelled. and found my man, as usual ,
punctual. and waiting for me. After l
had cot on board. however, recollected
that 4 had left some tackle i should re-
ouire. and. throwing, my bunch of keys
10 NV fisherman, bade him hasten and
fetch il from the cottage. He was longer
zone than | expected, and when he lid
come back. L noticed that he was the
worse for drink. His speech was thick
and incoherent. He was more than
usually loauacious; and a something of
disrespect towards me, which L had
never before noticed in his mode of
address. assured me he had been drink
inc while absent on his message, and
thus had broken a sacred pledge he had
made To me to abstain from liquor. This
promise he had hitherto observed with
exemplary fidelity. Imade no comment
upon his condition as he sprawled, rather
than stepped into the punt, hoping the
fresh morning air and the hard exercise
he must undergo against the current
before we got to the weir would restore
him to sobriety. As we took advantage
ef the back eddies to get to particular
spot where we purposed TO tie the punt
10 the stanchions of the weir, trout ol
fabulous size threw itself high out OF
the water. and came down with a heavy
snlash. the noise of which could be heard
over the roar of the fall of ths weir.
"Do YOU know" he remarked, with
biccup. ssthat the whole of the time,
man and boy, I've been Thames flsil,
erman. never caught Thames trout
| get preciously joked by my fellows, as
most of 'em have had some, and many
of 'em their half dozen of that hsh'
There he is againi III he's one he
twelve pounds, and intend having him
or And here followed savage oath
sswe had now got close TO the piles oil
the weir. The man, however, instead
of putting nv rod together, as he always
did, prepared it with spinning bait Tor
my use, and seeing me fully at WORK
before he did anything else, deliberately
arranged his own tackle, muttering the
while: "Ahi intend TO have that trout
-Rill Smith and Harry Jones shall