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Page:Caine - An Angler at Large (1911).djvu/175

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OF THIS EVENING
157

a cock give tongue. But these may all be heard by the river, and the river adds to them a number of sounds all its own. Against the piles of the bridge the water runs with a barely perceptible chuckle. A coot clucks far off. A water-rat, coasting in the blackness, plunges as one moves. The big trout flop over after the fat sedge flies. And now and then loud sucking sounds break out under the banks. I have been taught to believe the frogs to be responsible for these vulgar noises.

All is peace.

But to-night, somewhere up stream, there was a heavy, lunging splash, followed by a thin pitiful squeaking; then silence. Another heavier splash, three faint feeble cries, and again silence.

And again silence. It was over, whatever it was. The incident was closed. But the night did not seem so sweet as heretofore, and I came indoors.