THREE FISH 6i 



come across these lines I hope they will recall 

 with as much pleasure as I that evening at the 

 Club. 



We duly toasted Policeman X. 



Fish the Third. 



Six grilse in two hours, and all in one long pool, — 

 would be good work anywhere. But that was my 

 record nevertheless one day on a tributary of the 

 Tweed. 



Only two were clean-run fish. The others were red ^ 

 fish that long had lain in the pools below waiting for 

 a spate. For we had been suffering from weeks of 

 drought. But at last the storm had burst upon us, 

 and for days the river had been raging down as red 

 and thick as coffee-grounds. The fish had run up 

 madly ; throwing themselves up over the caul in 

 hundreds — a beautiful sight to see. But now the 

 water had fined down nicely, the pools were quiet, and 

 the fish were taking well. 



I had begun fishing at three o'clock. At five or so 

 I had landed my sixth grilse, and by half-past five was 

 into a big fish. 



He had been rising all the afternoon more or less, 

 and very quietly, close to a willow bough off an island 



