DAPPING 93 



" Wull ye lend Oi the rod a minute, mister ? 

 A wun't hurt 'en." 



" Oh, take it, and be hanged ! Much good 

 you'll do with it," was B's ungracious reply. 



Half an hour passed, and B, now snoring, was 

 again aroused. The youth was dangling before 

 his astonished gaze four lovely trout, half-pounders 

 or so. 



" Eh, what ! Why, how the deuce did you get 

 those ? " 



" 'Twur oak-vly, zur ; live 'uns. Yeucomean' 

 have a try." 



B then perceived that his fly had been stripped 

 and the hook run through a mottle-winged 

 natural which was feebly kicking in the throes of 

 dissolution. 



To cut it short, B got his first lesson in dapping, 

 and caught three nice fish. The boy made up 

 the dozen, and with half-a-crown stuck in his left 

 eye, bade God-speed to a very relieved angler a 

 little later. 



His private comment, " They gentry be all 

 vules," was hardly flattering. The young lady's, 

 " Didn't I know he'd catch them ? " might, under 

 the circumstances, have been justly held so. 



These oak-flies are to be found on the trunks of 

 trees, principally oaks, or on old palings near 



