A FINAL CAST 313 



tail, and now understand the reason for the unusual 

 tactics. Exercising a little care and applying a 

 minimum of pressure, we gradually lead it farther 

 down to shallower water, where we may follow. 

 In time we bring it to the surface and the net, 

 but not without a grand fight worthy of a pounder 

 hooked in the mouth. This stroke of luck puts us 

 in good humour ; fortune has not quite deserted us, 

 but instead has given us a good trout, rather more 

 than half a pound in weight, and a few minutes of 

 sport which might easily have been less exciting 

 than it was. 



The flat seems worthy of another trial, and we 

 return across country to our starting-point. Round 

 the base of a cairn of stones the water is slightly 

 broken, and the wind driving against the current 

 raises a fair wave, a place likely to hold a good fish. 

 The tail fly is laid beyond the first of the miniature 

 billows ; it bobs along a foot or two, and then in 

 a trough a trout arrests it. The strike fails to send 

 the hook home. Not until we arrive at the generous 

 rush at the neck do the flies receive further response ; 

 but the Rough Olive this time is the winner. 

 The captive behaves exactly as the previous victim, 

 and for precisely the same reason. As soon as 

 the trout drops into the net, the hook comes away, 

 and, on proceeding to touch it up for future con- 

 quests, we perceive that it transfixes a tiny scale. 

 Three trout already are in the bag on what we 

 consider a hopeless day. Surely it is worth while 

 continuing, even although two of them are the 

 victims of their own bad luck. 



The next stretch is a great, long, broad flat, the 

 top part especially of which, and the glorious glide 



