BROWN WATERS 



It was good to win back to the sun- 

 light, knowing that the thing had been 

 done, a heavy basket to prove the wet- 

 ting of a line in those coveted waters. 



Bait fishing merged into fly fishing 

 days. The " ram's horn," a two handed 

 greenheart with a double warp in the 

 second joint, passed on as a fit weapon 

 for a boy of fourteen ; a brass reel that 

 went complainingly and by jerks; flies 

 of many sizes, the outcasts from many 

 fly-books : such the equipment, and only 

 zeal to make up for its deficiencies and 

 for lack of skill. In those days the boy 

 of the party had a place firmly assured 

 to him in the background, where he was 

 much encouraged to adorn himself with 

 modesty and silence, yet was he never 

 denied the activities of paddling canoes 

 or poling rafts while his betters fished : 

 capacities in which, by the way, it was 

 none too easy to give satisfaction. A 

 "plop" of the paddle, a bang on the side 

 of the canoe, a swing of the craft 

 20 



