14 ANGLING SKETCHES 



How well one remembers deserting the gardener, 

 and already appreciating the joys of having no 

 gillie nor attendant, of being ' alone with ourselves 

 and the goddess of fishing'! I cast away as well 

 as I could, and presently jerked a trout, a tiny one, 

 high up in the air out of the water. But he fell off 

 the hook again, he dropped in with a little splash, 



PARR AND MINNOWS 



and I rushed up to consult my tutor on his unsports- 

 manlike behaviour, and the disappointing, nay, 

 heart-breaking, occurrence. Was the trout not 

 morally caught, was there no way of getting him to 

 see this and behave accordingly ? The gardener 

 feared there was none. Meanwhile he sat on the 

 bank and angled in a pool. ' Try my rod,' he said, 

 and, as soon as I had taken hold of it, ' pull up,' he 



