EARLY MEMORIES 53 



respite after months of cramming at high pressure 

 for the I.C.S. Open Competition, which, under 

 the old regulations, began on the first of June. 

 The fishing, close to a buoy outside the harbour, 

 was successful ; the examination was not. That 

 failure rankled for fifteen years, until a distin- 

 guished Indian Civilian, my neighbour at some 

 literary dinner or other, congratulated me on my 

 failure on the ground that men of my complexion 

 always " went a mucker " in the East. Whether 

 allusion was intended to whiskey-pegs or fever, I 

 do not remember having asked, but his assurance 

 that ten years of India would probably have done 

 for me was comforting, even had other consolation 

 been wanting. 



From Deal Pier I have done both summer and 

 winter fishing, though I never, as already stated, 

 took part in those monster competitions, which 

 have brought a little fame and fortune to that 

 ancient town. No useful purpose can be served 

 by criticising, from a purely personal, and perhaps 

 eccentric, standpoint functions which afford much 

 harmless amusement. I simply do not like them, 

 but the reason why, I cannot tell. I cannot, 

 however, let the opportunity pass of criticising 

 what has always seemed to me an extraordinary 

 condition of the weigh-in. It is that dogfish are 

 not allowed to count. Why not ? Surely, the 

 test of skill is not the capture of fishes that are 



