APPROACHING T\HE WATER. 35 



To set foot on that bridge would be equivalent 

 to whispering the word ' Tecs ' among a friendly 

 gang of pickpockets. 



You are going to put up your rod. There 

 is a small brook running into the river at right 

 angles twenty yards below the bridge pool. 

 [How well can I see the place in my mind's 

 eye and myself, ten years younger, with beating 

 heart nervously and hurriedly fastening cast to 

 line and fly to cast, while peering over the 

 tangled bushes which afford the only cover at 

 the glistening water above.] That is the place 

 to select, and having got all ready, crouch down 

 among the low rushes in the mud with your 

 rod on half cock, and watch the small run 

 where the brook or ditch discharges its trickle 

 into the main stream. 



There is no hurry. If feeling impatient 

 begin upon your sandwiches : you may be too 

 busy to eat them later on in the flush of the 

 evening rise or when you feel really hungry. 

 From where you are you have access to quite 

 a stretch of likely water and it may not be ten 

 minutes before a rise occurs close in to your 

 own bank, in a tiny runnel not a foot deep. 

 Keep low, sit upon your heels, and let your 

 rod begin that rhythmical sway with ever- 

 increasing line pulled off the reel by your left 

 hand, which will suffice to place the fly above 

 the fish. It is successful or not as the case 

 may be. Let us suppose not and that the 

 trout goies off, leaving a warning furrow across 

 the pool. 



