104 BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



What think you of our prospects?" The Professor is 

 not usually given to be optimistic, but he was con- 

 strained to allow that the weather was not altogether 

 unpromising. "The wind last week," said he, " blew 

 a gale down stream, the pools were boiling cauldrons, 

 and the natural insects on the water were swept clean 

 away ; not a grayling rose for six days, and fishing 

 was nowhere." "You will admit," I said, "that it 

 looks more promising to-day ; there is but little wind 

 stirring, so far as one can judge from the window, and 

 that north-easterly, which suits our river exactly ; the 

 sky is bright, with a few dull clouds hanging about ; 

 the air is crisp a fair-looking day for the grayling. " 

 " That's all very well," said the cynic ; " but if there 

 is any rise to-day it will all be over before we can get 

 to the water at three o'clock." 



We reached the river about that time, when the last 

 "rise" had already happened, for we saw no more. 

 Notwithstanding, I did manage to bag a nice brace of 

 grayling with the "Iron Blue," and was satisfied. 



Saturday, Oct. iqth, was glorious, a day to be re- 

 membered, for it possessed all the essential qualities 

 of a perfect grayling day. 



We started for the river filled with the hope, 

 amounting almost to certainty, of soon having our 

 baskets weighed down by the big grayling only wait- 

 ing to be caught. 



Alas ! when we got to the river, what had happened 

 to it ? It was one field of floating greenery ; hundreds 

 and hundreds of tons of newly-cut weeds, and old, 

 suspended weeds had been let down upon us from 

 some demon holds above ; on, on they came, an end- 



