ON THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE COLN 185 



unwillingly. The gallery consisted of Fairford Bridge, 

 and it was occupied at starting only by the youngest 

 inhabitant, who could not get his head over the 

 parapet, and therefore did not matter. Under the 

 bridge, in a swift, rippling stream, live many trout, 

 and they lie and feed in a certain order of precedence. 

 Two feet under the bridge are half-pounders ; two feet 

 higher up are fish of three-quarters of a pound ; after 

 a similar interval come the pounders ; beyond that all 

 is darkness and monsters, to judge from the " plops " 

 that can be heard from time to time. One can only 

 fish one arch without wading, and that by awkward, 

 back -handed casting, unless one is left-handed or 

 ambidextrous. The fishing is difficult, but the trout 

 rise well and visibly, though it is only now and then 

 that they make a mistake and take an artificial fly. 

 Often, too, a mistimed cast lands the fly against the 

 stonework, whence it falls ineffectually back, while five 

 times out of six a puff of wind brings about the same 

 result. Fishing the bridge from the bank means much 

 hard casting with little profit ; by wading, however, it 

 could be commanded much more easily. 



It took me quite a long time to insinuate the fly 

 under the bridge at all, and the youngest inhabitant 

 was reinforced by several of his friends before the feat 

 was accomplished. Their rather cynical amusement 

 was then changed to respectful exclamations when the 

 ginger quill rose, hooked, and landed one of the three- 

 quarter-pounders. The fame of this capture got 

 abroad probably, for the gallery began to fill up, and 

 the next fish was landed more or less in the public 

 eye. Then misfortunes began. A fish was hooked, 



