DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 53 



reached the water I should find myself minus an 

 essential for commencing work. My relief was 

 great when at last I remembered it was the little 

 lady, from whose side I had stolen while she slept, 

 that I had left behind, and I laughed so loudly at 

 this discovery that a startled blackbird left his roost 

 with a severely rebuking " Clang, clang, clang." 



A breathing time amongst such scenes in the 

 early hours points its silent moral, and the peace 

 and rest it gives should make us as fit as fiddles. 

 I was feeling very fit as I approached the moss- 

 covered, wooden structure, that so pleasingly nestles 

 amongst high trees and overhanging bushes. It 

 is a joy to look on it, and you are sure to wish 

 while doing so that the dear old weir may serve 

 its purpose for long years to come before giving 

 way to an ugly, modern substitute. To my mind 

 the picture it makes is worth a day's travelling to 

 get a sight of, for man's handiwork has grown with 

 age to fit and match with Nature so perfectly as to 

 almost destroy the lines of difference. There is a 

 special joy for the angler who looks beneath the 

 surface of its bubbling waters, for there he will see 

 the heads of wooden piles that vexed poachers long 

 since dead and that are a terror still to those who 

 try to net the trout for which the pool is noted. 



A misty vapour formed from the falling water 

 glided down the pool and gathered into a cloud 

 that hid the surface of the water and the branches 

 above it at the far end, so I had to give some 

 thought as to where my lure would fall when 

 I should cast in that direction. First I tried near 

 the bush I had hidden behind, which commands a 

 miniature foaming rush that twiddles round a green- 



