MEMORIES OF EARLY DAYS 251 



times stooping, sometimes on one's knees, some- 

 times at full length, according to the necessities 

 of the case, pushing the rod in front, and at last 

 swinging the worm gently on a short line over 

 the edge of the bank and lowering it into the 

 water. When the angler knows the burn well he 

 goes at once from place to place, approaching the 

 bank afresh at each spot which he knows to be 

 suitable. If he does not know the burn he must 

 reconnoitre from a distance to see the sort of 

 water that is before him. It does not do to drop 

 a worm blindly over the bank without knowing 

 where it will fall, as the hooks are sure in this 

 case to become mixed up sooner or later with a 

 bush or a heap of sticks. 



One burn I used to fish which flowed through 

 a wood of high trees down a steep rocky channel. 

 Here it was possible, at least for a small boy, to 

 keep out of sight by walking up the bed of the 

 burn itself, stooping low, jerking the worm up 

 into little pools and cascades above, and lifting 

 the trout out down stream on to the bank. 

 This was very pretty work. I remember once 

 getting several trout quickly one after the other 

 in this place, and then they suddenly stopped 



