278 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



stream, and we set to, with no little 

 eagerness, to make our preparations for 

 accompanying him to the stands lower 

 down the river. 



I think I see my warm-hearted friend 

 leering at us with a half-suppressed smile 

 and an occasional chuckle, as we dis- 

 played, one by one, our boasted London 

 rods and tackle ; it appeared to me at the 

 time to savour somewhat of malice, or 

 perhaps envy, at the superiority of our 

 equipment, as I unsuspectingly imagined ; 

 and this opinion was strengthened on 

 seeing an unwieldy mis-shapen pole, as I 

 thought (but which he dignified by the 

 appellation of rod), spliced together by 

 himself. This apparently unsightly tool 

 was composed of only two joints, and 

 made to splice in the centre. The lower 

 half was of pitch pine, and the upper 

 joint of hickory,with, of course, the whale- 

 bone top. 



