CHAPTER V 



LATER EXPERIENCES WITH " BOB " 



AFTER my first spring outing with " Bob," I did a 

 good deal of fishing alone. I was able to get away 

 across the fields to the river in the morning, and so 

 spent a good proportion of those early days with it 

 practically to myself. The end of each day, how- 

 ever, found me in the old winter haunt under the 

 raftered ceiling of " Bob's " kitchen, " cracking " 

 over with him, and comparing experiences. 



We had now got into the month of May. A 

 gradual and subtle change had been taking place in 

 both water and fish, under almost daily observation. 

 The trout, since that first April day already 

 described, had been growing steadily plumper and 

 stronger, on fuller and better fare. Haying now 

 got their legs, as it were, they had been quietly and 

 almost imperceptibly on the move upwards from 

 the flats and tails of the streams to the stronger 

 running water. 



All the winter ways of nature, as experienced in 



a north country hamlet, were changing. The dogs 



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