A FORLORN QUEST, ETC. 219 



affording ample food and cover. As a result of 

 conditions so auspicious, adders not only abound 

 in Monmouthshire, but also attain to the largest 

 size recorded in these islands. 



It will take long for memory to lose the picture 

 of those beautiful Welsh hills, the distant views, 

 the crisp air, the scent of new-mown hay, the pale- 

 faced Hereford cattle staring meekly from every 

 byre. Above all, the vision of Leighton standing 

 at attention with a fearful trident poised to strike, 

 while with his boot he carefully turned over some 

 likely looking stone. From the valley beneath 

 came the sobbing of the Monnow, deliciously cool 

 as it fell on our burnt up senses. If one person- 

 ality besides Leighton' s stands out from that 

 panorama, it is that of a prehistoric lizard of a 

 man, a pterodactyl in fustian, who stood aloft 

 on a haycart, brandishing a fork just above my 

 jugular, and prayed that that rustic tool might 

 fall from his hand if he did not tell the truth when 

 he swore to having seen an adder swallow her 

 entire family. 



Of fishing failures, have not more than a few 

 been already admitted to these pages ? The 

 Littlehampton mullet were of these. There were 

 other apocryphal mullet in a little lagoon fed by 

 the Teign, beside which a gallant Indian colonel 

 and myself sweltered through a hot August day, 

 when we might as well have hoped to catch a 



