were lined along bath banks, men in
frock coats, others in duck suits, others in blouses, women, children and
even young girls of marriageable age; all were fishing.

Patissot started for the dam where his friend Boivin was waiting for him.
The latter greeted him rather coolly. He had just made the acquaintance
of a big, fat man of about fifty, who seemed very strong and whose skin
was tanned. All three hired a big boat and lay off almost under the fall
of the dam, where the fish are most plentiful.

Boivin was immediately ready. He baited his line and threw it out, and
then sat motionless, watching the little float with extraordinary
concentration. From time to time he would jerk his line out of the water
and cast it farther out. The fat gentleman threw out his well-baited
hooks, put his line down beside him, filled his pipe, lit it, crossed his
arms, and, without another glance at the cork, he watched the water flow
by. Patissot once more began trying to stick sand worms on his hooks.
After about five minutes of this occupation he called to Boivin;
"Monsieur Boivin, would you be so kind as to help me put these creatures
on my hook? Try as I will, I can't seem to succeed." Boivin raised his
head: "Please don't disturb me, Monsieur Patissot; we are not here for
pleasure!" However, he baited the line, which Patissot then threw out,
carefully imitating all the motions of his friend.

The boat was tossing wildly, shaken by the waves, and spun round like a
top by the current, although anchored at both ends. Patissot, absorbed in
the sport, felt a vague kind of uneasiness; he was uncomfortably heavy
and somewhat dizzy.

They caught nothing. Little Boivin, very nervous, was gesticulating and
shaking his head in despair. Patissot was as sad as though some disaster
had overtaken him. The fat gentleman alone, still motionless, was quietly
smoking without paying any attention to his line. At last Patissot,
disgusted, turned toward him and said in a mournful voice:

"They are not biting, are they?"

He quietly replied:

"Of course not!"

Patissot surprised, looked at him.

"Do you ever catch many?"

"Never!"

"What! Never?"

The fat man, still smoking like a factory chimney, let out the following
words, which completely upset his neighbor:

"It would bother me a lot if they did bite. I don't come here to fish; I
come because I'm very comfortable here; I get shaken up as though I were
at sea. If I take a line alon