nd a major in the English army. But I never
learned this till we got to Tampico, where they went with me for the
tarpon-fishing. They were rare fine fellows. L., the little Englishman,
could do anything under the sun, and it was from him I got my type for
Castleton, the Englishman, in _The Light of Western Stars_. I have been
told that never was there an Englishman on earth like the one I
portrayed in my novel. But my critics never fished with Lord L.!

These English friends went with me to the station to bid me good-by and
good luck. We were to part there, they to take ship for London, and I to
take train for the headwaters of the Panuco River, down which unknown
streams I was to find my way through jungle to the Gulf. Here I was told
that C. had lost his only son in the Boer War, and since then had never
been able to rest or sleep or remain in one place. That stunned me, for
I remembered that he had seemed to live only to forget himself, to think
of others. It was a great lesson to me. And now, since I have not heard
from him during the four years of the world war, I seem to divine that
he has "gone west"; he has taken his last restless, helpful journey,
along with the best and noblest of England's blood.

* * * * *

Because this fish-story has so little of fish in it does not prove that
a man cannot fish for other game than fish. I remember when I was a boy
that I went with my brother--the R. C. and the Reddy of the accompanying
pages--to fish for bass at Dillon's Falls in Ohio. Alas for Bill Dilg
and Bob Davis, who never saw this blue-blooded home of bronze-back
black-bass! In the heat of the day my brother and I jabbed our poles
into the bank, and set off to amuse ourselves some other way for a
while. When we returned my pole was pulled down and wabbling so as to
make a commotion in the water. Quickly I grasped it and pulled, while
Reddy stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Surely a big bass had taken my
bait and hooked himself. Never had I felt so heavy and strong a bass!
The line swished back and forth; my pole bent more and more as I lifted.
The water boiled and burst in a strange splash. Then! a big duck flew,
as if by magic, right out from before us. So amazed was I that he nearly
pulled the pole out of my hands. Reddy yelled wildly. The duck broke the
line and sped away.... That moment will never be forgotten. It took us
so long to realize that the duck had swallowed my minnow, h