30 BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



would not come back. I was wading, the stream being 

 about two feet deep all across. I came within a yard 

 or two of the bush. I could see the gravel bottom all 

 the way across. I stepped unwarily on an innocent- 

 looking bed of weeds, and down I sank, down, down, 

 till I feared I was making a short cut to the Antipodes. 

 My waders were soon waterlogged, and my legs fast 

 in the soft sinking and yielding mud. Happily for me 

 the Major was there, he rushed into the water and 

 came to my help. I should have found a difficulty in 

 extracting myself, for I could not lift my legs at all. 

 With his welcome help I struggled ashore, and started 

 off for home. The house was quite near, if I could 

 only get to it by crossing another branch of the river, 

 otherwise I must take a long round. I reached that 

 river. It was a full strongly-flowing stream, and seemed 

 to me to be about two and a half feet deep. I am wet, I 

 said to myself, I cannot get much wetter, I will make 

 the venture. I rushed into the strong current. In the 

 middle of the river I found the water up to my arm- 

 pits, and flowing strongly. Luckily that was the 

 deepest part ; it soon grew shallower. There must 

 have been many gallons of water in my boots, but there 

 was no mud. I scrambled over the gravel, and was 

 really thankful to find myself on land. I lay down, 

 and turned a small river out of my boots, ran off to 

 the farm, changed everything, had my wet clothes 

 hung out in the hot sun, and within an hour, filled 

 with new enthusiasm, I was down at the riverside 

 again, fishing away more vigorously than ever. 



Our brief holiday came too quickly to an end. We 

 had good sport, though, for the reasons given already, 



