50 SALMON FISHING 



the game ; and after the drive from the third tee I 

 was convinced that I had mistaken my calling. I 

 should have been a o-olfer. I had never driven such 

 long balls before, and could not remember having 

 seen any one else drive so. In my amazement I was 

 shy; but my host and opponent was not reticent. 

 " Are you too big for your boots ? " he asked, as my 

 ball flew gaily over a hedge far beyond the ambition 

 of any man with a handicap. " I am " said I, 

 embarrassed. " I don't understand this at all. I'm 

 above myself." My friend laughed merrily, and 

 explained. The driver I was using was one quite 

 by itself. He too had played with it. Then he 

 had asked to buy it. As the professional would not 

 sell, he had offered double the ordinary price for an 

 exact duplicate. The duplicate was made, and in 

 appearance was exact ; but it was a failure. Among 

 all the drivers in Hampstead there was only one 

 that suddenly turned amiable persons into sufferers 

 from swelled head. That was the one I was using. 



Fishing-rods also have individual qualities. At 

 first one thinks that any rod by a good maker will 

 cast any ordinary fly or flies ; but strange knowledge 

 comes with experience. It came to myself on Loch- 

 leven. Thither I had taken a twelve-foot built-cane 

 rod. It is of the class generally assumed to be the 

 best, and certainly it is pleasant to the hand. That 

 day the trout were not rising well. By two o'clock, 

 indeed, my companion and I had caught only one 

 each. Just for luck, I would try that other rod 

 which Mr. Harris, of the Green Inn, had lent to me, 



