PRELIMINARY 

 angler by being very rough. Its course is through a rugged moorland, a 

 series of cascades separated by churning cauldrons, rapid streams and 

 rocky pools of small extent. Every inch of fishing water can be covered 

 without wading by a fifteen-foot greenheart, and the nature of the channel 

 ensures lively sport when a fish is hooked. 



Well, I arranged that Mason should fish the water before me; but as we 

 were to start from a bridge near the bottom of the beat, I set him down 

 there with a gillie to show him where the fish lay, and went down alone 

 myself to try a place below the bridge so as to give him a good start in 

 fishing up. He had the cream of the water before him, to which I felt sure 

 that so good a fisherman would do full justice. Wind, weather and sky 

 were all that one could wish for ; but it had rained very heavily in the night, 

 and I was haunted by apprehension of the river coming down in flood before 

 long. 



I killed a nice fish of 11 lb. in the low pool, and then proceeded to follow 

 Mason up the river, where he had a start of a full mile before me. It seemed 

 that he must have fished the water very carefully, for I saw nothing until I 

 overtook him near the top of the beat, and was surprised to find that he had 

 not moved a fish. It was now high noon, the river was rising fast and I foresaw 

 that it would be unfishable before Mason finished the beat. So leaving three 

 excellent pools untouched for him, I passed him and went on to the topmost 

 pool on the beat, where an ancient bridge, fondly called Roman by local 

 antiquaries, spans the river, looking strangely as if it had lost its way 

 in the brown moor, for there is no vestige of a road on either side of it. 

 Under this bridge the river rushes through a narrow rocky gorge, expand- 

 ing suddenly into a broad circular pool. The flood was now well under way, 

 and the chance of moving a fish in the tumbling water was a faint one. 

 I grudged the minutes spent in changing my fly to a larger one ; but it was 

 worth the trouble, for at the second cast up came a nice little fish of 8 lb. 

 and was fast. Be sure that I did not waste any time in getting him out; 

 then, thinking myself an old fool for attempting any more under what 

 seemed prohibitive conditions, I hurried round by the bridge to try the 

 quieter water on the other side. Luck again ! I landed a third fish, 9 lb., 

 after which all further fishing was quite out of the question. 



Now I had planned the beat most carefully for Mason's advantage, yet 

 he never had a rise that day, and he certainly was not inferior to me in 

 either skill or diligence. 



In respect of heavy fish luck plays a still more capricious part. It is the 



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