ng through the town, shouting in his excitement "Now me! now
moon!"; but as he dashed into his own yard, he saw the moon shining in a
bucket of water, standing by the stable door. The delay at the toll-bar
had lost him his wager.

A son of the above, Thomas Rushton, was a great fisherman, and not always
particular where he followed his sport. Walking in the night to a
certain lake in a park, about 6 miles from Horncastle, he fished it and
landed two or three brace of good trout, and then about eight o'clock in
the morning, he called at the hall, and sold them to the squire for his
breakfast. He used to tell this anecdote to his confidants, with his
well-known chuckle of satisfaction, as a satisfactory stroke of business.
Many other stories of his performances with "the angle" could be also
related, but this may suffice.

The following relates not to a native of Horncastle, but to one whom we
may call an "intruder," although he was to play his part (not a very
creditable one) in the town. We avoid, for obvious reasons, giving names
and dates. There had occurred a number of petty thefts, which made,
those who possessed anything of value, uneasy about their treasures, lest
their turn for spoliation might come next. The police arrangements for
the town were still of a very primitive character, and quite inadequate
for due protection of the householder. The days of the "bobby" and
"peeler" were not yet, at least in country districts; although Sir Robert
Peel had done away with the old watchman, and established the present
police system in the metropolis; and some other of our larger towns had
followed suit. But in Horncastle the constable, by way of setting a
thief to catch a thief, had, it was said, himself in his earlier years
been a great smuggler, while in his age he was a spindle-shanked old man,
whom a boy could knock down. Roused by the insecurity of property, the
authorities decided to import a London detective, disguised in plain
clothes. He came, and for a while marauders, among whom the secret soon
leaked out, carefully stayed their hands. After a time, however,
robberies began to recur; especially a corner shop near "the far bridge,"
was the scene of considerable pilfering. The detective was called in to
investigate. He took up the matter, but did not succeed in making any
arrests.

It was noticed by someone that a brass button was missing from the sort
of gamekeeper's velveteen coat which he wore;