30 APPROACHING THE WATER. 



shoes, comfortably out of view of the stage so 

 that he may be exactly parallel to the rise 

 which she has been sharp enough to detect. 



As the fly reaches the water, provided the mis- 

 guided 'rod ' essays one or more throws before 

 the fish is permanently put down he peers 

 forward so as to miss nothing, and after the 

 cast is made and the line reeled in he regards 

 the angler with something akin to disgust at 

 not continuing to throw. He sees him spike 

 the rod, and considers that slow filling of a 

 pipe as a selfish and unfriendly act. Perhaps 

 he imparts the information that * it was a fish 

 he is sure,' or perhaps he strides off as much 

 as to say ' I shouldn't grudge letting you see 

 me catch a trout if our positions were reversed.' 



Now for the matter from the angler's stand- 

 point. He has waited for twenty minutes 

 watching a certain fish a good one he thinks, 

 rising occasionally and shyly below a clump 

 of celery weed. He has made a short detour 

 in the meadow so as to get well below him. 

 He has approached the edge of the water on 

 his knees and gradually crouched into position 

 as though he were a housebreaker peering into 

 a dining room window. He has measured the 

 distance and already made a cautious cast or 

 two, one of which the fish half rose at. 



He has rested that trout a few minutes and 

 is just about to throw again, when he is sud- 

 denly made aware of an intrusive man standing 

 above him and approaching at full height to 

 the very margin of the rushes. The trout must 



