he servants perceiving the swan with its head under water
for a longer time than usual, took the boat and found both swan and
pike dead. "Gesner relates that a pike in the Rhone seized on the lips
of a mule that was brought to water, and that the beast drew the fish
out before it could disengage itself. Walton was assured by his friend
Mr. Segrave, who kept tame otters, that he had known a pike, in
extreme hunger, fight with one of his otters for a carp that the otter
had caught and was then bringing out of the water. A woman in Poland
had her foot seized by a pike as she was washing clothes in a pond."
Mr. Jesse tells the story of a gentleman, who, as he was one day
walking by the side of the river Wey, saw a large pike in a shallow
creek. He immediately pulled off his coat, tucked up his shirt
sleeves, and went into the water to intercept the return of the fish
to the river, and to endeavour to throw it out upon the bank by
getting his hands under it. During this attempt the pike, finding he
could not make his escape, seized one of the arms of the gentleman,
and lacerated it so much that the marks of the wound were visible for
a long time afterwards. Pike will live to a great age, ninety years
or more. In the year 1497, according to old Gesner, a pike was taken
at Halibrun in Suabia with a brazen ring attached to it, on which was
the following inscription in Greek:--"I am the fish which was put into
the lake by the hands of the governor of the universe, Frederick the
Second, the 5th of October, 1230." This pike, therefore, would be two
hundred and sixty-seven years old; people said it weighed three
hundred and fifty pounds, and that its skeleton was nineteen feet
long. I will show you a picture of this ring in Gesner's book when we
get home.

[Illustration]

WALK X.

OCTOBER.

How pleasant is the season of autumn, with its yellow fields of ripe
corn, and its orchards laden with the fruits of the apple and the
pear. But now the golden grain is safely stored. The birds, too, have
done singing, with the exception of the robin and the hedge-warbler,
which even in the winter occasionally cheer us with their welcome
notes. There are yet, however, a few wild flowers to interest us, and
the ferns are still beautiful. The various kinds of fungi are
springing up in the fields and woodlands; it is a charming day for a
stroll; we will drive to the Wrekin and explore the woods at its base.
I am sure we shall be able