74 THE SALMON 



parcel and imagined that he was being made a fool of 

 by the Lord Chancellor. 



The honours of the day in harling rest with the 

 boatmen, who are responsible for bringing the flies 

 properly over the fish, and I have officiated in that 

 capacity as well as with the rod. There was a stretch 

 of water about a mile and a half below the house 

 where there was one very good cast — Burn bend — 

 where early birds used often to secure a fish before 

 breakfast, but where most of the water was considered 

 useless, and never harled, as the bottom was smooth, 

 and salmon did not lie there as a rule. Once, how- 

 ever, when there was an extra large party in the 

 house, three of us went over there, borrowed a boat, 

 and tried the water by ourselves. Sir Frederick 

 Milner will doubtless remember the twenty-two pound 

 fish he got on that occasion ; and I can answer 

 for it that one at least of his amateur fishermen was 

 as proud of his success as the captor himself. I 

 have also with a friend harled in the mouth of the 

 Rauma in Norway, the two of us managing both the 

 boat and the rods, and getting fair success with grilse 

 and sea-trout ; and I do not think the operation at all 

 a difficult one for anyone with the ordinary proficiency 

 with the oar acquired at least by every wet bob at 

 Eton. 



