DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 71 



CHAPTER VII 



THREE MARRIED COUPLES GO A-FISHING, GET WET, 

 AND VISIT UNCLE — UNCLE'S LITTLE MISTAKE 



Among my happiest recollections of fishing outings 

 are those of roaching picnics, the participants in 

 which were three married couples. The exciting 

 feature of these outings was the stubborn contest 

 for the best take of fish, the incentive being the much- 

 prized honour of receiving a pair of gloves paid for 

 by the possessor of the second-best take, while the 

 owner of the least-esteemed catch had to provide 

 two pairs for each of the ladies. 



It was the custom for us to call each other by our 

 shortest names — Jack, Ted, and Phil. It is very 

 pleasant to be so called by pretty lips and valued 

 friends. 



Jack's uncle owned an estate, which Jack had good 

 reason to hope would some day be his, a part of which 

 is a wealth of rich meadow land, and through it a lovely 

 stream meanders, which in places is narrowed and made 

 crooked by banks that have ancient pollard withies 

 dotted here and there, one of which has a wide opening 

 that shows its empty inside, wherein you might shelter 

 from a storm, while its shoots, grown to hu-rdle-making 

 size, still give grateful shade or shelter to the fisher 

 who would try the eddying water at its roots. 



Every bend has a pool, and in some of them the 

 water eddies quite bustlingly v/here the stream strikes 

 its outer edge, while near the bank it goes in amongst 

 the sedge and rush with scarce a breath of movement. 

 It gurgles and tumbles through the sluice gates, eddies 

 and foams at the tail of the pool there, and then 



