66 AN OPEN CREEL 



could have been devoted to immediate angling. These 

 things, however, are by the way, and at this moment 

 he is, without cavil or question, our superior, for he is 

 ready, and can await the opening day with a calm mind. 

 For the rest of us all is now fret and fever. Our 

 rod, it is suddenly discovered, is by no means fit for 

 service. Its whippings have begun to go, its varnish 

 is chipped, its end-rings are worn into grooves bad 

 enough to ruin the dressing of that new line which has 

 to be bought and put on to the reel after it has been 

 cleaned and put in order. Can the tackle-maker effect 

 the necessary repairs by the last day of March at latest ? 

 The question is asked in a shamefaced way, because 

 we know that the demand is not reasonable, and that 

 we ought to have looked into the matter in January ; 

 and when he replies vaguely, alleging the press of 

 similar work which occupies all hands, the length of 

 time which varnish takes in drying, and other things, 

 as obstacles to a definite promise, we leave the matter 

 in his hands with a shrug of resignation, or else decide 

 that the rod must go through one more season un- 

 repaired. In that case we shall suffer for it, as was 

 foreseen, and probably shall, after all, have to send it 

 into hospital just before the Mayfly season or the 

 annual holiday, or at some other time of special 

 inconvenience; and in either case one result will 

 probably be a new rod, bought as a temporary sub- 

 stitute for the old favourite. More than once, I grieve 

 to confess, have I been betrayed into such wanton 

 extravagance in this way. Of subsequent developments 

 there is no end, for the new rod requires a special line 

 to suit it, probably a new reel, and then very likely 



