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Page:Caine - An Angler at Large (1911).djvu/61

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VII
Of Chavender, Tea-Drinking, and the Best Angler

Chavender has been here fishing, and has caught more fishes than I believed it possible for one man to draw out of this river in the space of three days. Every afternoon he has been driven into the house, about tea-time, by the intolerable burden of trout with which his creel has been stuffed; then, having discharged his cargo, he has swallowed about ten cups of tea and departed, to be seen no more until dinner, when, the larder having been further enriched and a hasty meal having been swallowed, he has once more put forth to the work, and night has fallen upon him still slaughtering. This is the kind of guest that it is a real pleasure to have in the house. Until his return for the night to these premises our conversational labours with Chavender are limited to an affable good morning, and his, with us, to a request for the salt or more tea. But his waders once off, he will talk like a Christian and show no signs of restlessness till

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