FLY-MAKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 305 



Keen search for signs of their presence in the 

 whirl of waters revealed nothing, and it soon became 

 evident they were lost beyond recall. Thrown upon 

 our own resources, we hastened to the apology for 

 an inn, the primitive comforts of which never 

 appeared so favourably to us as when, in changed 

 apparel, we prepared to make a fly or two for 

 immediate use, in the genial warmth of a glowing 

 pine wood fire, the logs of which, rich in resinous 

 matter, burnt brilliantly, brightening and bathing in 

 cheerful light each primitive object within the four 

 or more (here we cannot be precise) angles of the 

 room. In the collection of material, the first 

 essential, i.e., hooks, were not to be found, and after 

 a time we recollected having put them in a missing 

 case. Upon this stern fact becoming evident, 

 something bordering on dismay threatened to 

 enthrall our spirits. A packet of small dun hooks 

 was all we had to rely upon for a period indefinite, 

 far top long for us to regard with feelings of serenity, 

 and it was speedily arranged that we should severally 

 prepare some plan of solving the perplexing problem 

 of the moment. Minus flies and minus hooks, save 

 such as were suitable for the Iron Blue, how were we 

 to re-open negotiations with salmon ? At this we 

 mutually and severally set to work. The result of 

 an hour or so's ardent application being three ideas 

 in practical shape, which may be briefly described as 

 under : 



The first consisted of a needle, two inches or more 

 in length, softened by fire, and transformed into a 



V 



