Hey, lads, it'll be a straange bad time for us when it's done." "But do you think it will take off all the water, and spoil the fen, Dave ?" said Tom.
"Nay, lad, I don't," said Dave with sudden emphasis.

"It's agen nature, and it wean't be done.

Hey and we must be getting back." He plunged the pole into the water as he spoke, and it seemed to grow blacker and blacker, as they talked pike over their capture, till the shore was reached, and the prize borne to Hickathrift's workshop, where a pair of big rough scales showed that within a few ounces the pike weighed just what Dave guessed, to wit two stone and a half old Lincolnshire weight of fourteen pounds to the stone, or thirty-five pounds..