THE ENTOMOLOGY OF THE ERNE. l6l 



of the party, came back from his morning 

 inspection sulky and disconsolate, and, with 

 a gesture that told " more than words could 

 say," silently hung up his rod in the brackets. 

 Cold weather he could stand ; for clean water 

 from the clouds he cared no more than a 

 Spartan ; but dirty water in the river would 

 beat Isaac Walton himself; so the Captain, 

 taking one more look at the leaden sky, pro- 

 nounced oracularly that nothing was to be 

 done that day. 



" Nothing to be done !" said the Parson. 

 " I think we have a pretty average of broken 

 tackle and washed flies to repair: I am 

 fairly ashamed to open my book, and see 

 some half-dozen old stock -flies that even a 

 pike would turn up his nose at, and a dozen 

 or two well-washed specimens that have been 

 presented to every salmon in the river. I 

 say that a regular wet day is quite a God- 

 send ; and, speaking for myself only, I mean 

 to take my pleasure here." 



And he seated himself down on a heap of 

 turf that he had been building in the corner 

 of the room, close by the window, so as to 

 have the full benefit of all the light there 



M 



