A PECK OF TROUBLES 231 



That, however, is beside the subject, and the real 

 question remains unanswered. No doubt there are 

 answers more or less satisfactory, but it is hard to 

 see them. The personal element has been eliminated 

 because the fisher is not " off colour." If he were 

 he would not be surprised, but he knows he is not; 

 he slept soundly, and ate a large breakfast with 

 hearty appetite. At starting he felt himself a 

 match for any kind of difficulty, and the master 

 of all methods. There remain impersonal things. 

 Is it anything to do with the rod ? "I am sure 

 rods get tired," said an accomplished angler to me 

 one day, " especially split-cane rods ; but they 

 recover all right after a rest." It was a very sugges- 

 tive remark, which may possibly have some bearing 

 on the point at issue. If a rod does get " tired " 

 and the day of troubles comes after it has been 

 through a spell of hard work, one need not be 

 surprised that it refuses to behave properly. 



Yet this sequence of events is not invariable, 

 for the troubles often come when the rod has had 

 no work to do for a long time often, alas ! on the 

 solitary day which the angler has snatched for fish- 

 ing out of a busy life. The rod seems to be also 

 eliminated by this very fact. 



Another possible solution remains wind. Are 

 there, even on days apparently all but windless, 

 awkward little currents of air near the surface of 



