38 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



CHAPTER IV 



'Tis not that rural sports alone invite, 



But all the grateful country breathes delight. 



COURTING THE QUEEN OF FISHES — A DISAPPOINTMENT 



I KNOW no river with such never-ending pictures of 

 dehght nor one so full of surprises at every turn, in 

 all seasons, as the Thames. You cannot catch it out 

 of tune. Its rich alluvial soil has given birth to a 

 wealth of meadow flowers and an endless variety of 

 trees, bushes, and brambles, scattered in a higgledy- 

 piggledy fashion that has m.ore art to please than the 

 most artful man could plan. 



Thames trout fishers have time to spare for what 

 the meadows have to show and to listen to the voices 

 that tell again of boyhood's days, and I know no sport 

 of v/hich it can be so truly said that its votaries need 

 a love of country sights and sounds. 



One of the cleverest and most persistent Thames 

 trout fishers I know has not taken a fish that he v/ould 

 keep for the past two seasons, and yet he goes on 

 trying; and so have I done, although until this season 

 I had fished in vain as long as he. There is a fascina- 

 tion in striving for a trout, whose size is equal to your 

 dearest wish, that has allured you back to his haunt, 

 time after time, by occasionally showing himself and 

 sometimes playing tricks with your bait that have 

 stiffened your joints for the tussle you thought 

 imminent. 



I have striven so often for the fish I have in mind 

 that we have grown familiar with each other's ways. 

 He will not accept my offerings, but he takes no 

 exception to my visits, and rarely fails to give me 

 the welcome tidings of his being still at home. The 



