SPIRIT OF THE CHASE 11 



ing at night and going to bed before going to fish, 

 which were a procedure much too uninspiring. You 

 are to travel by night, and to be on the water soon 

 after the close of the journey. Tackle-shops have to 

 be visited. Perhaps you want for nothing in the 

 way of gear ; but the zest has caught you, and the 

 inclination to see what new flies there may be, 

 whether any one has a new line or a new reel, how 

 the gut crop has turned out, is not to be denied. 

 Regularly a man of my acquaintance, when he has 

 resolved to give himself a few days off, a week before 

 the time of his departure takes all his rods, all his 

 boxes of tackle, his gaff, and even his basket, to be 

 looked to by a professional expert. Usually they 

 are in no need of overhauling ; but he cannot resist 

 the opportunity to have grave deliberations about 

 them. At ordinary times this man is engaged in the 

 occupations of the working millionaire ; but during 

 the whole of that week nothing is allowed to dis- 

 tract attention from the great topic of the time. 

 That pervades his thoughts and all the hours. 

 Often I have been with him on his expeditions. 

 Instead of retiring to rest in a Pullman car, as an 

 ordinarily decorous Crresus would do, he begins to 

 unmask his batteries the moment the train is under 

 weigh. The joints of every rod have to be examined ; 

 the flies have to be minutely discussed; the casts 

 have to be tested. This, with the careful packing 

 up again, keeps him going until York is reached, or 

 Carlisle ; at which place a morning journal is urgently 

 needed. To see what Parliament has been doing ? or 



