272 TROUT FISHING 



to cut off the view of a world which is always too 

 much with us inside the forty-mile radius. Doubt- 

 less, also, they found that the streamlet, albeit 

 not strictly belonging to the chalk, was pretty 

 well and constantly supplied with water, which is 

 no small matter in the history of a river. Perhaps, 

 too, there were traditions which told of trouting there 

 in the past. 



This, indeed, was my first thought as I surveyed 

 the stream while I put my tackle together. " Surely," 

 I said to the keeper, " there were some big trout 

 here before ? " " Well," he replied, " when we 

 netted the pool below the mill we only got two, 

 besides the dace and things." " And were they 

 big ? " I asked. " About eight or nine inches," 

 was the answer. Which seemed pretty conclusive, 

 for if there be big trout anywhere, obviously the 

 place in which to find them is the pool below a 

 mill. 



So it was reasonable to assume that when taken 

 in hand the stream was in no sense a trout water, 

 though the existence of a small one here and there 

 argued that it should be capable of that develop- 

 ment. And the sequel proved the justice of the 

 contention. The discovery resulted in the forma- 

 tion of a little club, in a spell of intensive water 

 culture, and in the ultimate creation of as delightful 

 a little trout stream as soul could desire. Within 



