CHAPTER X 



A DAY WITH THE GRILSE 



IT is one of the wettest mornings of this very 

 wet autumn of the year of grace 1890. The 

 keeper has reported in the gun-room, on being 

 asked whether it was any good to go out on the 

 hill, that " the dry land was over your boots," 

 and that the birds would be quite unapproachable. 

 Still, the glass is rising at last, and although the 

 water has been too high to begin with yesterday 

 and the day before, and has committed on each 

 day the unpardonable sin of rising and flooding 

 us out when fishing, I determine to go again to 

 the river for two reasons : (1) the day is wholly 

 unsuitable for any other sport or amusement ; 

 (2) I know that there are fish in the river, and 

 this heavy flood, just as the nets are off at the 

 mouth, with a spring- tide at its highest, must 

 have brought in others. Besides, it has rained 

 so much that it surely cannot rain any more ; 

 the stock must be exhausted ; and lastly, if other 

 reasons are wanting, a true fisherman requires a 

 great deal to keep him at home. After all, the 

 rain that fell last night can have been nothing 



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