48 BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



is thought big enough to satisfy the Major's fastidious 

 taste ; and now another, and another, of equal if not 

 greater girth, follow in the same wake. Then we 

 rest for half an hour, with our eyes mostly on the 

 water. The Major caught sight of one of those quiet 

 lumping-up and circling-round rises a long way up 

 stream, which indicates the motion of a big fish ; a 

 trout, he said it was, and a trout it proved to be ; it 

 is your small fry, half-pounders and under, that make 

 the splashes. A long line is switched out, the fly 

 dropped gently on the outer swirl of the ring, and 

 this big trout came at it. He was fairly hooked, 

 leaped a yard out of the water, then came along 

 almost to the bank. I was ready with the net, he 

 made another big splash and was off. The Major 

 sighed and said, "It's trying to one's nerves to lose 

 such a fish as that ; he was a big one." After dinner 

 we sauntered forth again to look at the river under 

 the young moon. The Major's afternoon and evening 

 catch was three brace of grayling and one trout. 



Saturday, Sept. i6tk. I find that I have devoted 

 so much space to our first evening's sport, in which I 

 only shared as a spectator, that I must cut short the 

 days that follow. This day was dull heavy misty 

 no sunshine whatever besides being cool. It 

 could hardly have presented a greater contrast to yes- 

 terday's scorching heat. It was not a bad day for the 

 grayling or perhaps it is truer to say it was a bad 

 day for some of 'em. I caught five fine grayling, 

 one of them just a 2 lb., and the Major three brace 

 nothing to make a boast of, but this be it remembered 

 is only a record. This was a day of triumph for me 



