70 DAYS IN DOVE DALE 



" Foul hooked ; I caught him by the back 

 fin/' said he. 



" Well," said I, " what does it matter whether 

 you caught him by that, or the head, or the 

 tail, so long as you had him in your net ? " 



" Unsportsmanlike and illegal," he replied. 



I said no more. I only wondered if this 

 superfine doctrine prevailed in Izaak Walton's 

 days. I have my suspicion that that was the 

 way in which the inexperienced " Viator " 

 hooked his first grayling. I only know that 



if / had caught him but I am not going 



to encourage young anglers to break the law. 



This grayling certainly fought splendidly, 

 but perhaps one cannot fairly judge from this 

 what he would have done had the hook been 

 in his throat instead of his back fin. 



It was here I met again that little white- 

 bibbed sister of mercy, my pretty water ouzel. 

 She came and rested on a point of rock, and 

 made me half a dozen of her prettiest curtsies. 

 " Where are you going to, sir ? " she said. 

 "I'm going a-fishing, my pretty maid." "I'll 

 go with you, sir," said she, " and tell you 

 where the fishes be." 



And so she hopped along from stone to 



