ON THE NORTH RIVER 49 



When trout are not rising it is sometimes 

 weary waiting, and he is frequently tempted to 

 try the other system of casting about promiscu- 

 ously on the chance of finding a trout on the 

 feed in some hole or stream or eddy. The 

 Major is a rare hand at " waiting for a rise " 

 he thinks nothing of standing and watching for 

 half an hour at a time for a fish to rise at a spot 

 where he thinks he ought to rise, and when 

 such a rise does appear it generally happens 

 that the fish drops into his basket. We thought 

 we were going to have a good day, when almost 

 at the start the Major saw a rise and brought to 

 grass a fine trout of i Ib. 4 oz., but this happened 

 to be his biggest catch during the day; for the 

 reason I have already tried to explain, the water 

 was not in a proper state, and so very little was 

 done. The " A. A." got only one brace of ^ Ib. 

 trout, but he got them on the rise. The Major 

 got three brace, so that so far as the mere catch- 

 ing of fish goes, we had nothing to boast of; 

 but then I for one do not envy the man who 

 goes to a riverside solely and wholly and with 

 no other object in view than to catch fish. For 

 my part, I like to catch them, but I love the 

 pleasant music of a rippling stream, the songs 

 of birds, the green meadows, the woods and the 

 flowers, and if I catch no fish I am not inclined 

 to cry Perdidi diem ! 



Then, again, this " fine old English gentle- 

 E 



