ON THE LYON. 205 



familiar river than with much hope of hooking a 

 fish in water so thin and clear. 



"When I sauntered down to the first pool, I 

 found Chesthill's fisherman giving it the finishing 

 touches ; and he told me that another well-known 

 Lyon angler had had "his wull o't" shortly before, 

 but nothing had moved to either of them. The 

 tiny state of the river was warrant enough for 

 " ill luck," and I had turned away to seek some 

 of the deeper linns which might not have been 

 already raked, when the man begged me to try 

 this pool once more. "Three times was canny," 

 and although they had " dune naething, he would 

 like weel to see't cuisten owre by me." 



To please him, I put on my lightest tackle and 

 threw right across to the farther side with a long 

 and even sweep. Near the tail of the pool the 

 heaviest water runs close to the opposite bank. 

 This was the critical bit, as both the fisherman 

 and I knew full well. To fish it properly required 

 a most powerful throw, and yet from the still 

 clear state of the water the fly ought to fall like 

 gossamer. At the second attempt of this difficult 



