Notes and Sport of a Dry -Fly furist. 95 



advertisement for " quiet quarters close to a trout 

 stream, and if there were grayling so much the 

 better, and out of the beaten track of tourists," had 

 been answered by a score of letters, one of them 

 rather takingly in verse, the prose details of 

 accommodation and attractions offered set forth in 

 several stanzas a little in the style of, but a long way 

 .after, Burns. I closed with this novel offer, and 

 wrote to Mr. Sandy Macpherson that I would 

 become his guest about the end of June. On 

 arriving from Carlisle on the 30th, his cottage, 

 within view of the river, seemed quite orderly, and 

 good enough for an angler who could dispense with 

 luxuries, especially if his sport were fair. Therefore, 

 after breakfast I arranged with Mrs. Mac that 

 during my stay I would always return punctually at 

 four o'clock for an early dinner. I chose four o'clock 

 because the morning rise of flies and fish would 

 probably be over until the evening, and then I 

 could fish on until dusk without interruption. 

 About 11 a.m. I shouldered my creel, hung the 

 landing-net on a sling at my side so that in kneeling 

 it could not touch the ground and perhaps be left 

 behind at a critical moment when wanted, and with 

 an lift, split cane rod in hand, already extended 

 and rigged up, went joyfully to the riverside, 

 waving the bending rod over it, and in the act 

 bowing myself as if in salutation to the Clyde at 



