CHAPTER VII 



GRAYLING FISHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 



October 1898 



!HE persistent fine weather, at which it is 

 about time to begin to grumble, has not, 

 I fancy, been good for grayling fishing 

 anywhere. It was during the sham war on 

 Salisbury Plains that my good friend M. invited 

 me to spend a day or two at Amesbury, first to 

 witness the "grand review and march past" on 

 Boscombe Down, Beacon Hill, on September 8, 

 1898, and then for some fishing on "The Avon." 



We reached Porton, our nearest station, on the 

 day of the great fight between the northern and 

 southern armies, called " the Red " and " the Blue." 

 We found the station a perfect impact ; vehicles 

 were there of every imaginable description, and a 

 traction engine drawn diagonally across the road. 

 The space in front of the station was full of hogs- 

 heads of beer, and these were being loaded on 

 vans to which the engine was attached. If the 

 ladder up which the casks were being rolled had 



