To those who have read of his masterly solution of the diamond cross mystery the colonel needs no introduction.He was a well known character in police and criminal circles, because of his success in catching many a slippery representative of the latter.
He had served in the secret service during the Spanish-American war, and later had become the head of the police department of a large Eastern city.From that he had built up a private business of his own that assumed large proportions, until advancing age and a desire to fish and reflect caused him virtually to retire from active work.And now, as he had so often done before, he had come to this quiet stream to angle.
And yet, even as he dropped his bait into the water, he could not keep his active mind from passing in rapid review over some of the events of his career - especially the late episode of the Darcy diamond cross.
"Well, I'm glad I helped out in that case," mused the colonel, as he sat up more alertly, for there came a tremor to his line that told much to his practiced and sensitive hands.
A moment later the reel clicked its song of a strike, and the colonel got first to his knees and then to his feet as he prepared to play his fish.
"I've hooked one, Shag !" he called in a low but tense voice."I've hooked one, and I think it's a beauty!""Yes, sah, Colonel! Yes, sah! Dat's fine! I'll be ready as soon as yo' is!"Shag caught up a landing net, for, though the colonel was notanticipating any gamy fish in this quiet, country stream, yet for such as he caught he used such light tackle that a net was needed to bring even a humble perch to shore.
"I've got him, Shag! I've got him!" the colonel cried, as the fish broke water, a shimmering shower of sparkling drops falling from his sides."I've got him, and it's a bass, too! I didn't think there were any here! I've got him !""Yes, sah, Colonel! Yo' suah has !" exclaimed the delighted George Washington Shag."You suah has got a beauty!"And as Shag started forward with the landing net, while the colonel was playing with the skill of long years of practice the fish which had developed unexpected fighting powers, there was a movement among the bushes that lined the stream below the willows, and a young man, showing every evidence of eagerness, advanced toward the fisherman.Shag saw him and called:
"Keep back! Keep back, sah, if yo' please! De Colonel, he's done got a bite, an' - ""Bite! You mean that something's bitten him?" asked the young man, for he could not see the figure of the colonel, who, just then, in allowing the bass to have a run, had followed him up stream.
"No, he's catchin' a fish - he's got a strike - a big one! Don't isturb him.""But I must see him.I've come a long distance to - ""Distance or closeness don't make no mattah of diffunce to de colonel when he's got a bite, sah! I'm sorry, but I can't let yo' go any closer, an' I'se got to go an' land de fish.Aftah dat, if you wants to hab a word wif de colonel, well, maybe he'll see yo', sah," and Shag, with a warning gesture, like that of a traffic policeman halting a line of automobiles, started toward the colonel, who was still playing his fish.
Harry Bartlett, for he it was who had thus somewhat rudely interrupted the detective's fishing, stopped in the shade of the willows, somewhat chagrined.He had come a long way for a talk, and now to be thus held back by a colored man who seemed to have no idea of the importance of the mission was provoking.
But there was something authoritative in Shag's manner, and, being a business man, Harry Bartlett knew better than to make an inauspicious approach.It would be as bad as slicing his golf ball on the drive.
So he waited beside the silent stream, not so silent as it had been, for it was disturbed by the movements, up and down, of Colonel Ashley, who was playing his fish with consummate skill.
Seeing a little green book on the grass where it had fallen, Harry Bartlett picked it up.Idly opening the pages, he read:
"There is also a fish called a sticklebag, a fish without scales, but he hath his body fenced with several prickles.I know not where he dwells in winter, nor what he is good for in summer, but only to make sport for boys and women anglers, and to feed other fish that be fish of prey, as trout in particular, who will biteat him as at a penk, and better, if your hook be rightly baitedwith him; for he may be so baited, as, his tail turning like a sail of a windmill, will make him turn more quick than any penk or minnow can.""I guess I've got the right man," said Harry Bartlett with a smile.
