er to give it a thorough trial, and gave a scientific "cast" into an
imaginary pool. It was a splendid rod, just right for him; how he
wished he was up above Gusset Weir at that moment! Why, he could--

Here he attempted to draw up the rod. There was an ugly tug and a crack
as he did so, and he found, to his disgust, that the hook, having
nothing else to catch, had caught the ivy on the wall, and, what was
worse, that the top joint of the rod had either snapped or cracked in
its inability to bring this weighty catch to shore. It was a long time
before Loman was able to disengage his line, and bring the rod in again
at the window. The top joint was cracked. It looked all right as he
held it, but when he tried to bend it it had lost its spring, and the
crack showed only too plainly. Another misfortune still was in store.
The reel in winding up suddenly stuck. Loman, fancying it had only
caught temporarily, tried to force it, and in so doing the spring broke,
and the handle turned uselessly round and round in his hand. This _was_
a streak of bad luck, and no mistake! The rod was not his, and what was
worse, it was (so Cripps said) a rod of extraordinary excellence and
value. Loman had his doubts now about this. A first-rate top-piece
would bend nearly double and then not break, and a reel that broke at
the least pressure could hardly be of the best kind. Still, Cripps
thought a lot of it, and Loman had undoubtedly himself alone to blame
for the accidents which had occurred. As it was, the rod was now
useless. He knew there was no place in Maltby where he could get it
repaired, and it was hardly to be expected that Cripps would take it
back.

What was to be done? Either he must pay 3 pounds 10 shillings for a rod
of no value, or--

He slowly took the rod to pieces and put it back into the canvas bag.
The top joint after all did not look amiss; and, yes, there was a
_little_ bit of elasticity in it. Perhaps the crack was only his fancy;
or perhaps the crack was there when he got it. As to the reel, it
looked as if it _ought_ to work, and perhaps it would if he only knew
the way. Ah! suppose he just sent the rod back to Cripps with a message
that he found he did not require it? He would not say he had not used
it, but if Cripps chose to imagine he received it back just as he sent
it, well, what harm? Cripps would be sure to sell it to some one else,
or else put it by (he had said he possessed a rod of h