io THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



would have an excuse for failure if I were un- 

 successful. I "doctored" some wet flies into 

 what I thought to be a fair imitation of the dry 

 fly by tying the wings forward so that they 

 stood at right angles to the body, and then 

 sallied forth to the pool. On my way to the 

 stream I went alternately hot and cold betwixt 

 hope and fear. I rehearsed in my mind all the 

 things I had to do, and I think I was coldest 

 when I thought of having to float the fly. The 

 writer had recommended the use of paraffin-oil 

 as an aid to buoyancy, and this commodity was 

 about as easily procurable in Sullivan County 

 at that time as the philosopher's stone; in my 

 then frame of mind the latter would probably 

 have proven quite as good a buoyant. The pool 

 was but a stone's throw from the house, and I 

 arrived there in a few minutes, only to find a 

 boy disturbing the water by dredging it with a 

 worm. Him I lured away with a cake of choco- 

 late, sat down to wait for the rise which came 

 on shortly, and by the time I was ready there 

 were a half dozen good fish feeding on the sur- 

 face. I observed two or three sorts of flies 

 about and on the water, to none of which my 

 poor, mussed-up Queen-of-the-Waters bore the 

 slightest resemblance. This did not deter me, 



