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Updated: June 19, 2025
First came Monsieur Capitaine, the assistant chief; Monsieur Patissot, chief clerk; then Messieurs de Sombreterre and Vallin, elegant young employees who only came to the office when they had to; lastly Monsieur Rade, known throughout the ministry for the absurd doctrines which he upheld, and the copying clerk, Monsieur Boivin. Monsieur Rade passed for a character.
People were lined along bath banks, men in frock coats, others in duck suits, others in blouses, women, children and even young girls of marriageable age; all were fishing. Patissot started for the dam where his friend Boivin was waiting for him. The latter greeted him rather coolly.
Then Patissot questioned him with deep interest. Boivin named all the fish who frolicked under this dirty water and Patissot thought he could see them. Boivin told about the different hooks, baits, spots and times suitable for each kind. And Patissot felt himself more like a fisherman than Boivin himself.
"I dragged him away, holding him up until we reached the first bush where I deposited him. I lay down beside him and, it seems, I fell asleep. We must certainly have slept a long time, for it was dark when I awoke. Boivin was snoring at my side. I shook him; he rose but he was still drunk, though a little less so. "We set out through the darkness across the plain. Boivin said he knew the way.
Then Patissot questioned him with deep interest. Boivin named all the fish who frolicked under this dirty water and Patissot thought he could see them. Boivin told about the different hooks, baits, spots and times suitable for each kind. And Patissot felt himself more like a fisherman than Boivin himself.
Help! as loud as I could, lighting candle-matches to show the way to our rescuers, and also to keep up my courage. "At last a belated peasant heard us and put us on our right road. I took Boivin to his home, but as I was leaving him on the threshold of his garden, the door opened suddenly and his wife appeared, a candle in her hand. She frightened me horribly.
People were lined along bath banks, men in frock coats, others in duck suits, others in blouses, women, children and even young girls of marriageable age; all were fishing. Patissot started for the dam where his friend Boivin was waiting for him. The latter greeted him rather coolly.
He had just made the acquaintance of a big, fat man of about fifty, who seemed very strong and whose skin was tanned. All three hired a big boat and lay off almost under the fall of the dam, where the fish are most plentiful. Boivin was immediately ready. He baited his line and threw it out, and then sat motionless, watching the little float with extraordinary concentration.
And twenty times running I kept it up, soaking my feet afresh each time, and perspiring anew as I worked the handle of the pump. And when I was tired out and wanted to stop, Boivin, in a tone of entreaty, said as he put his hand on my arm: "Just one more watering pot full just one, and that will be all.
Little Boivin, very nervous, was gesticulating and shaking his head in despair. Patissot was as sad as though some disaster had overtaken him. The fat gentleman alone, still motionless, was quietly smoking without paying any attention to his line. At last Patissot, disgusted, turned toward him and said in a mournful voice: "They are not biting, are they?" He quietly replied: "Of course not!"
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