96 



THE EARLY DAYS OF 





stuck in a fish's mouth. I thought for some time that I must have 

 caught a salmon, for the fish behaved exactly as a salmon did in the 

 Usk one day when I was trout-fishing there. It went to the bottom 

 of the stream and there it stopped, until straining my line almost 

 to the breaking point, it suddenly changed its tactics and dashed 

 away upstream as hard as it could go. I followed for some distance, 

 keeping it out of the weeds as best I could, when to my relief it 

 turned and came again into the large corner where there was plenty 

 of sea-room, and there for quite ten minutes it dashed about and 

 every now and then sprang into the air, trying to break my line. 

 But at last it yielded, and dragging it down stream to a convenient 

 place where cattle come down to drink, I slipped my landing-net 

 under it and pulled it triumphantly on to the bank. It weighed five 



pounds, and now, with 

 glassy eye it surveys me 

 as I write. During the 

 struggle several other fish 

 were jumping round, and 

 directly my first prize was 

 landed, I proceeded to 

 wait on them ; and soon 

 four others, though not 

 quite so large as the first, 

 were lying on the grass. 



My friend, the farmer, 

 then appeared upon the 

 scene, and was so pleased 

 with my success, that he 

 declared he would be- 

 come an angler himself; a threat which I am selfish enough to say, 

 much to my satisfaction, has never been fulfilled. 



I must not fail to mention that the field where we were standing 

 was thick with grass just ready for the scythe, and when I pointed 

 to the damage I had done, my friend exclaimed, " Perhaps you 



FIVE-POUND TROUT FROM THE EVENLODE. 



