CLEAR WATERS 



aspect, though, as it proved, deceptively so, and about 

 noon, having successfully outwitted a half-pound fish 

 that was rising in an overhung pool beneath the old 

 Lauder peel tower of Whitslade, I espied an angler, 

 in this case, too, indisputably a gentleman, with two 

 attendants coming rapidly up stream in the water. 

 I sat down and waited for him in anticipation of those 

 friendly interchanges of current experiences and such- 

 like that are customary on the river bank. He was 

 thrashing away, too, at a great rate and in the appar- 

 ently careless fashion of a man who has done his 

 serious work and is going back to catch a train or trap, 

 for which on this particular day there seemed ample 

 reason. * What is the matter with the fish ? ' he called 

 out the moment he got within speaking distance. 



I said that I didn't know, but that I had been out 

 since ten and had only half a dozen. 



* I have been out since eight,' he replied, ' and have 

 only seven.' So I thought we were going to have a 

 comfortable chat, particularly as I was a stranger and 

 on the look out for tips. Not a bit of it. This en- 

 thusiast went down into the water again just above 

 me and flogged away for his very life. He had a man 

 on the bank with a landing-net as well as another 

 attendant, who proved to be the river watcher, for 

 soon after he caught me up to crave a sight of my 

 ticket. 



* Who is that gentleman ? ' I inquired. 



*Why, yon's Maister B ,' repHed the man in 



a tone almost of reproof. 



' And who is Mr. B ? I suppose he wants to 



catch the two o'clock train at Lauder.' 



374 



