no DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



six and a half of which are in the butt. I am fre- 

 quently being told that there are wonderful improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of spht-cane rods, and, on 

 the day of which I am writing, Phil had one that he 

 was very proud of, quite a work of art to look at; 

 but I could not help feeling as I tried it that it lacked 

 something that mine possessed. Could it be the 

 mellowness brought by the twelve years' work that 

 mine has seen? No doubt there are improvements 

 somewhere, because we are told so, and that they are 

 tiuTied out in great numbers with extraordinary 

 expedition I can quite believe; but I am not so sure 

 there can be the same pride in workmanship when the 

 work slips so quickly through the hands. 



I have a line, too, I value much, mainly because 

 the rod approves it. You may have seen a horse 

 make noble efforts to gallop gaily with a rider stones 

 too heavy, and perhaps close by another horse carry- 

 ing just the load — no more, no less — that he v,'as built 

 for; that's how you should fit your rod with the line 

 it has to throw, and that's how mine is fitted. I had 

 a cast of blue gut that tapered off to the fineness of 

 a hair. It had been well soaked, and to it I had 

 attached a fly which I knew would swim erect; yet 

 I tried it several times beyond the spot where the 

 fish that had caused my trouble had risen so boldly. 

 I liked the movements of my fly; it was, too, as near 

 as possible to the midges that now and then came 

 dowTi and were taken by the watchful, greedy fish. 



It was a very open spot, excepting for some bushes 

 near the edge, so I crept forward with head well down, 

 slipped a gaiter, knelt upon the leather, made a cast, 

 saw a ring, gave half the time necessary' to count one, 

 struck a click from off my reel, and thus commenced 

 a fight with my beguiler. 



I let him do the fighting, while I opposed, with such 

 force as was permitted by my fine line, his tugs and 

 digs to get in dangerous directions. I did not hurry 



