60 ROD AND RIVER 



backwards and forwards three or four times over 

 a nail, or anything of the kind which may be 

 handy for the purpose, and to wax all these 

 strands together as one, carefully unwinding and 

 separating them afterwards, and working the wax 

 well between the fingers before using. If the 

 fingers are wetted the wax will not adhere to 

 them. Nothing is more uncomfortable or likely 

 to raise a blister than a piece of wax adhering 

 to one's hand, for the rod becomes sticky, 

 and every movement of it tends to create a 

 gall. 



I would urge the reader, whenever things seem 

 to be going all wrong, as they do sometimes, to 

 make up his mind to be as resolutely slow in his 

 endeavours to put them straight as he possibly 

 can be ; to quietly and deliberately fill and light 

 up a pipe first of all, and if the fish are rising, and 

 so increasing his vexation, to turn his back to the 

 river, or walk away from the latter to where he 

 can neither see nor hear them rise. It is doubtless 

 a nuisance, but he must ever remember that it is 

 his own fault, and that he has to make the best he 

 can of it, and this he will never do if he is to lose 

 his temper and allow himself to be flustered and 

 hurried. Let the tangle appear never so inextric- 

 able, five minutes will suffice to clear it with the 

 aid of a pin. It is but rarely that a rod is so 

 hopelessly broken as to be incapable of being 



