i8 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



I landed half a dozen which proclaimed themselves 

 too small at the first glance I had of them. 



At the head of the pool, where the river narrowed 

 and where the water had most movement, I heard 

 a splash and saw a ring such as only a really good 

 trout could make. Of course I was full of eagerness 

 to catch it, but how to set about it with the greatest 

 chance of success had to be considered. I dried the 

 flv, decided on the spot which would best lend itself 

 to cast from, and then carefully got there on hands 

 and knees. These ceremonies were noticed, and I had 

 to give a reason for them, which I did by pointing 

 to the river and then gesticulating the size my hopes 

 had made the fish. I was much too near it to venture 

 speech; so near, indeed, as to make my covering it 

 as I wished almost certain. It is at such moments 

 that it often happens we make the silHest cast of all 

 the day and thus lose our opportunity for want of nerve. 

 This time the fly fell just where I wished, and as 

 a fly should fall,"^ and I got the fish. Although not 

 quite so big as some one expected from my gestures, 

 it more than reahsed my hopes as it was quite half 

 a pound. 



The excitement caused by the capture of the half- 

 pounder being over, we picked up our belongings 

 and carried them past the weedy shallows on to 

 where a sharp bend gave hopes of others. 



Just there, where the water, dark and cool. 



Lingers a moment in yonder pool, 



The dainty trout are at play; 



And now and then one leaps in sight, 



With sides aglow in the golden light 



Of the long, sweet summer day. 



The Httle wind that blew was up and across the 

 stream and proved most useful. The holland dress 

 was hidden by ferns and high grasses as the wearer 

 made her first cast with the fly — she had practised 



