98 THE TROUT ARE RISING 



want you to bring me out a fly-rod. I want a 

 rod something like you used to fish with on the 

 Mooi, only 1 want one with a steel centre, and 

 about 10 ft. long. I don't mind paying up to 

 10. I would not mind a good second-hand rod 

 if you happen to know of one. I shall leave it 

 entirely to your judgment. . . . I cannot buy a rod 

 here ; all the stores seem to have run out of rods." 

 Well, this wonderful place, this " centre of intelli- 

 gence," as London has been called, will be able 

 to supply a rod, and pleased I am to act on your 

 behalf, old friend. You go on to say (pleasant 

 reading for an amateur from an old piscatorial 

 pupil) : u 1 have done quite a lot of fishing during 

 the last two years. I go to the Loteni River. 

 The fishing there is better than the Mooi. I 

 shall take you there if you come to Natal for 

 some fishing." That's just like you, John ! 

 Thank you. You proceed in your letter : " I 

 have been quite envious of your fishing in 

 Scotland ; it's one of the places I want to go to." 

 That is only natural, for your grandparents came 

 from there to Natal in the early days and your 

 great uncle, a Scotsman, was a distinguished pro- 

 fessor, who edited a dictionary. 



To return to the Teme valley and the novice 

 from Deptford. Here was a man born and bred 

 in a foggy spot, where streets, houses, and 

 chimneys are the surroundings. Possessing 

 what proved sheer natural aptitude, he had for 

 weeks previously paved the way for an angling 

 holiday by devouring every scrap of angling 



