52 TROUT FISHING 



must spread his elbows comfortably on the parapet 

 and gaze into the deep pool below. Let me here tell 

 the story of the great fish. It was " no fisher but 

 a well-wisher to the game " (in Sir Walter Scott's 

 phrase) who discovered the great fish, and who made, 

 so to say, no small song about it, for it was creditable 

 in a well-wisher to have detected a monster which 

 the fishers had completely overlooked. So long it 

 was (hands two feet apart), and it lay just to the right 

 of the strongest stream, in the very deepest part 

 of the pool. The fishers, much perturbed, at once 

 set out to test the matter, for a two-foot trout is a 

 six-pounder at the least. Sure enough there in the 

 spot mentioned was a shape, broad and dark and 

 obscure by reason of what Blackmore might have 

 called the " nebules " in the water. " Golly " and 

 " Great Scott," said the fishers, and they went 

 away. 



But at dusk for several evenings a stealthy form 

 would approach the pool from below, there would be 

 a swishing in the air, and presently a sort of plop, 

 as a sedge suitable to six-pounders hurtled on to the 

 surface of the water. Nothing came of it, but every 

 morning there was the dark form in its accustomed 

 place to inspire new stratagems and provoke fresh 

 efforts. Then at last came a morning of bright 

 sun and unusually low water — a mill above was 

 perhaps holding the stream up for an hour or two. 



