THE SQUIRE 53 



His upright figure, thick black curly hair, in 

 which the few grey hairs seemed out of place, 

 above all the comeliness of face, marked him 

 as a man between thirty and forty years of age. 

 So one would have judged as he stood, though 

 the ease with which he leapt the ditch to the 

 sedges spoke rather of twenty-five. 



He took his position on the turfy bank over 

 against the leveret, and at once began whipping 

 together the three pieces of the rod he had 

 removed from the cloth case, working with 

 extreme haste as if he feared that the fish would 

 cease to rise before he was ready. When the 

 joints were securely tied, he fixed the reel, ran 

 the line through the rings, and attached the 

 cast with coch-y-bondhu for end fly, and red 

 palmer for dropper. Surely he is too impatient 

 to soak the gut before casting ; no, he flings it 

 into the little creek at his side and, to kill the 

 time of waiting, paces nervously up and down 

 the bank. After four turns he took up the rod 

 and began casting, the flies falling lightly on 

 the rippled surface. At the third throw he was 

 fast in a fish, but just failed to steer it clear of 

 a bed of weeds for which it made, and conse- 

 quently lost it. At the very next cast, when the 

 flies fell close to the hatch, he rose and hooked 

 a bigger fish. This leapt out of the water and 



£ 



