H.E. Bates Companion

Two old friends, recalling eel-fishing when boys, leave their lines and agree to meet at four the next morning to retrieve their catch. The next morning, the lines are empty and the men have overslept their rendezvous. David Garnett, in the introduction to Thirty Tales, notes that the story "could hardly be shorter and could hardly be slighter, but it is a complete and perfect little work of art, full of humour and containing a profound reflection on human life." In the Manchester Guardian (February 3, 1928), Day's End and Other Stories (1928), Thirty Tales (1934). Reprinted in Avon Modern Short Story Monthly (20, 1944), Twelve Great Modern Stories (1944), Best Fishing Stories (London: Faber, 1965).