70 THE BILLIARD TABLE POOL. 



disappointment that their keenness was over, 

 but with the fly between thumb and finger I 

 waited breathlessly. The upper one rose, this 

 time nearer to the rushes, and right under a 

 heavy headed tuft of nightshade which bobbed 

 forward at intervals and caught its crest in the 

 current. 



Just as I was thinking of casting for it the 

 trout in the centre rose well, and it was easy to 

 see that his proportions were attractive. He allowed 

 fully half a dozen casts to be made without atten- 

 tion, and then perhaps the seventh time, without 

 a movement, he was on a splendid ' rug,' a 

 vigorous holding water, and round he came 

 with a rush over the rock, in under the tangle 

 of brushwood at the foot of the wall without 

 a check on the short line, down under the 

 stones of the wall, and round below me among 

 the rocks. It seemed as though something must 

 give way, but it was no use letting him have 

 more rope : he would have hung himself up. 



As it was he jumped and churned until the 

 idea of a foul hooking suggested itself. But 

 no, he allowed himself to be reeled in and the 

 net received him kindly. I carried him across 

 the rocks to the bank and unhooked the fly 

 from the extreme edge of his upper lip. 

 Nothing but a break or the flattening of the 

 iron could have saved his skin, and with an 

 exulting feeling I saw he was better than the 

 other and fully fourteen ounces. 



A short space more and the billiard table pool 

 was again before me, its smooth glide unbroken 



