28 Rambles with a Fishing-Rod. 



ure is found, too, in the evening, whether one 

 is walking home exchanging " good - nights " 

 with the cheery peasants, or later on is listen- 

 ing to them as they sit round a table with big 

 pipes and equally big tankards of beer, singing 

 some of their simple songs. 



The following morning was again too hot for 

 fishing; and when "the noonday quiet holds 

 the hill," and the sun shines from an unclouded 

 sky, it is more enjoyable to sit and read on 

 soft cushions of moss, with a sturdy pine for 

 a support, than be scorched in a boat on the 

 water. But as the afternoon grew cooler, we 

 were tempted on to the lake though, so far as 

 fishing went, we might as well have remained 

 on shore. We did not get so much as a run 

 from a small jack; but in truth, the beauty of 

 the day and the scene compensated largely for 

 the absence of sport. Every yard we rowed 

 showed us the distant landscape in varying 

 forms and under different shades of light, 

 whilst a bit of foreground, a grey rock, a 

 lichen-covered pine, were noted as we passed 

 along. It is this existence of compensations 

 that is one of the greatest of attractions to a 

 fisherman who is not wholly absorbed in the 



