7 8 ECHOES OF SPORT 



is with you the whole time and independent 

 of the second. If it is on a river, the delight 

 of knowing where to fish, studying the eddy 

 of the stream, the beginnings and endings of 

 pools, the holes by big stones where a fish is 

 likely to lie, casting the line that it obeys your 

 slightest wish, these joys are yours every 

 moment, and even the disappointment of a 

 slender or empty basket cannot banish them. 

 The day's fishing that comes always fore- 

 most to me was that whereon I caught my 

 first salmon. It was on a river in the wonder- 

 ful forest of Blackmount. There had been a 

 spate the preceding week, and on the Monday 

 the river was pronounced to be in perfect 

 order. The lady of the forest, herself an 

 experienced hand at fishing and other royal 

 sports, as all who run may read in her fascin- 

 ating book The High Tops of Blackmount, 

 equipped me with rod and tackle and all the 

 necessary paraphernalia. Accompanied each 

 by a ghillie, we left the Lodge about 10 a.m., 

 and pulled across the loch to where the river 

 leaves it. There are five pools in a stretch of 



