"And now, _mon ami_, what do you vote for?" asks Müller. "Boating or fishing? or both? or neither?" "Both, if you like--but I never caught anything in my life," "The pleasure of fishing, I take it," says Müller, "is not in the fish you catch, but in the fish you miss. The fish you catch is a poor little wretch, worth neither the trouble of landing, cooking, nor eating; but the fish you miss is always the finest fellow you ever saw in your life!" "_Allons donc_! I know, then, which of us two will have most of the pleasure to-day," I reply, laughing. "But how about the expense?" To which Müller, with a noble recklessness, answers:-- "Oh, hang the expense! Here, boatman! a boat _à quatre rames_, and some fishing-tackle--by the hour." Now it was undoubtedly a fine sentiment this of Müller's, and had we but fetched my two Napoleons before starting, I should have applauded it to the echo; but when I considered that something very nearly approaching to a franc had already filtered out of our pockets in passing through the fair, and that the hour of dinner was looming somewhat indefinitely in the distance, I confess that my soul became disquieted within me. "Don't forget, for heaven's sake," I said, "that we must keep something for dinner!" "My dear fellow," he replied, "I have already a tremendous appetite for dinner--that _is_ something." After this, I resigned myself to whatever might happen. We then rowed up the river for about a mile beyond Courbevoie. moored our boat to a friendly willow, put our fishing-tackle together, and composed ourselves for the gentle excitement that waits upon the gudgeon and the minnow. "I haven't yet had a single nibble," said Müller, when we had been sitting to our work for something less than ten minutes. "Hush!" I said. "You mustn't speak, you know." "True--I had forgotten. I'll sing instead. Fishes, I have been told, are fond of music. 'Fanfan, je vous aimerais bien; Contre vous je n'ai nul caprice; Vous êtes gentil, j'en convien....'" "Come, now!" I exclaimed pettishly, "this is really too bad. I had a bite--a most decided bite--and if you had only kept quiet".... "Nonsense, my dear fellow! I tell you again--and I have it on the best authority--fishes like music. Did you never hear of Arion! Have you forgotten about the Syrens? Believe me, your gudgeon nibbled because I sang him to the surface--just as the snakes come out for the song of the snake-charmer. I'll try again!" And with this he began:-- "Jeannette est une brune Qui demeure à Pantin, Où toute sa fortune Est un petit jardin!" "Well, if you go on like that, all I have to say is, that not a fish will come within half a mile of our bait," said I, with tranquil despair.