A GOOD COMRADE.

Founded on Fact.

The owner of a vegetable-garden one day noticed that a basket which had
just been filled with new turnips became suddenly emptier. He questioned
the gardener, who likewise could not understand the matter, and
proposed, as a certain means of discovering the thief, that they should
hide themselves behind a hedge which was near. This was done. After some
minutes they saw the house-dog go straight to the basket, take a turnip
in his mouth, and then make his way to the stable. Dogs do not eat raw
turnips; our watchers therefore followed the thief, and discovered that
the horse, his stable mate, was also concerned in the affair.

Wagging his tail, the dog gave the horse the turnip, and the horse, of
course, did not require much pressing. The gardener angrily seized his
knobbed stick in order to chastise the dog, but his master held him
back. The turnips went on disappearing in exactly the same way, and the
scene repeated itself until the supply was exhausted.

The dog had long made this horse his favourite, while he seemed to
consider a second horse which was in the same stable not worthy of a
glance, much less a turnip.

[Illustration: "The dog gave the horse the turnip."]

[Illustration: "The pike seized the wretched stoat."]

AN ARTFUL JACK.

Some True Anecdotes.

Along the river Wey, which flows through Hampshire and Surrey, there is
much wild scenery still, though some parts have been altered of late
years. Many small streamlets, bogs and marshes, ponds and pools, are
delightful to the lover of Nature, no less than to the sportsman. Boys
with nets chase big dragon-flies, fat-bodied moths, and swift
butterflies, and men with guns watch for birds, large or small, which
are numerous. The young birds are also in danger from foxes, who leave
the woodland to hunt by the waterside.

The fish draw many anglers to the river, for the pools and streams have
plenty of fish, not only the small and common kinds, but the trout,
which is eagerly followed to its haunts. Besides trout, the ferocious
pike or jack is not uncommon, good specimens being taken by various
baits, for a jack is not particular what it eats. When cooked, it is a
fish generally liked, though it seldom comes into the shops for sale. It
is rather a handsome fish, being marked with green and bright yellow.

A clever jack will do much to obtain a choice morsel. Roaming along the
banks of the Wey, a man came