CHAPTER XIV 



FLY FISHING NEAR SCARBOROUGH SCALBY BECK 



HAD been told that Scalby Beck was a 

 good trout stream; the trout are bigger 

 there, running to a pound or two. One 

 was caught there not long ago weighing four 

 pounds, but they are few and far between, and 

 difficult to catch, and as there is a select club of a 

 dozen members owning the water, and they give 

 strangers the great privilege of fishing there at the 

 rate of $s. a day, I was tempted to give it a trial. 

 I drove up there one gloomy morning, intending to 

 fish up the beck from the sea, as I had been ad- 

 vised. I landed on the bridge which crosses the 

 stream close to the sea, and I looked about for a 

 lad to carry my " Patent Slip-on," my bag, and my 

 net, etc. ; but neither boy nor man was to be seen. 

 After a time I saw a tramp coming along the road. 

 He had the appearance of being an honest lad 

 " down on his luck." I asked him if he wanted a 

 job, and if he would go a-fishing with me. He said 

 he would, as he hadn't a copper in his pocket, and 



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