DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 143 



telling you of my efforts to secure the thirteen-pounder. 

 I was content to watch the spot a while to see if he 

 had yet succumbed to the fascination of the all- 

 fascinating drake. Would he rise? I smoked two 

 pipes at least before a great svv'irl answered the question 

 and gave me a thrill of hope. 



I did all I knew, but it was only the natural fiy 

 that he would notice. By this time I was aroused, and 

 had no thoughts but for that particular fish. A natural 

 fly seemed the only chance, and to use it with success 

 I must cross the river and get the breeze behind me. 

 So, round we hastened and got opposite the spot just 

 in time to see him rise again amongst the little waves. 

 While I changed my hook the boy captured flies, and 

 but little time elapsed before I was offering two of 

 them upon a hook. Aided by the ^^^nd, I got them 

 neatly to the three-feet circle, whence the patriarch 

 had so far selected all his victims. Two at a time must 

 have tickled his fancy, for up he came, took them, 

 and was back again among the weeds before I had 

 a chance. I got on the greatest pressure that I could 

 as quickly as might be, and this, probably, made him 

 feel the hook, for he made a rush, entangled the line and 

 broke me. 



A da}^ with the May-fly is an event all anglers should 

 have a taste of, as the tide of hope is then at its fullest. 

 What my basket might have been had I not courted 

 the prize my tackle did not hold I can only think of, 

 but I know that my friend had a catch of Kennet 

 trout of which he was very proud, as well he might be, 

 for he had four brace, the smallest two pounds and 

 the largest six pounds. 



To say 'flies' to anglers is like sajnng 'rats* to 

 terriers. Their fly-book is more to them than Shake- 

 speaie, Milton, Dickens, or KipHng, and I fear it is 

 oftener in their hands — even on the seventh day — 

 than the Book of books. A replenished receptacle for 

 flies moves them more than a collection of the successful 



