292 AN OPEN CREEL 



trout of three pounds, rather lanky, but otherwise in 

 good condition. 



After that I had an interview with a wasp, a sleepily 

 vicious September brute, which was anxious to make 

 someone pay for the wet day that was annoying it, and 

 which I grieve to have to confess it put me to head- 

 long flight. Worse than that, it followed doggedly in 

 pursuit, until there was nothing for it but to turn and 

 give battle. It settled on me two or three times, hat 

 and glasses fell off, and altogether it was an anxious 

 time. I won in the end, but the moral victory was with 

 my assailant. I have never been at my ease with 

 wasps since I stirred up a nest with the handle of my 

 landing-net, inadvertently, of course. 



To return to the fishing, a little later I met M., and 

 found that he had got a noble brace, one a rainbow of 

 three and a half pounds, and the other a brown trout 

 of three and three-quarter pounds, both on dry fly, a 

 hackle sedge of his own tying, besides a small rainbow 

 of one and a quarter pounds, which he had kept for 

 breakfast and choicely good it was at that meal. He 

 had been using only a little nine-foot split cane, and 

 had had a rare fight with each of the big ones. We 

 had an early tea, and got on the water again about 

 4 p.m. I stayed on the Blagdon shore near the embank- 

 ment, and he went along towards Butcombe. The sky 

 cleared by five o'clock, a gleam of sun heralded a fine 

 evening, and opposite to where I was fish began to rise 

 or bulge. There were eight or ten of them within 

 reach of a long cast, but they wandered a great deal, 

 and the wind in my face was troublesome. I am not 

 sure that I covered more than two of them fairly. Of 



