60 Wei-Fly Fishing 



time, a burrowing-out of the pool, or hole, 

 and hurling the gravel and sand into a 

 considerable heap, on my own side. It was 

 difficult to wade, and unsafe. In fact, it 

 gave one the idea of wading on the rather 

 friable edge of a submerged, but narrow 

 gravel-pit. And I had at last to leave the 

 water, for the wading got worse as I moved 

 upwards. When, at length, I stood on the 

 dry gravel-bed (from which I fancy the 

 local anglers fished the place) I " put down " 

 all the trout. This hint set me on my 

 mettle. Crawling up for a few yards to 

 the edge of the deep eddy on my own side, 

 where the gravel-bed went sheer down into 

 the blue depths of the pool, I sat down 

 on the gravel itself, allowing my legs to 

 dangle in the eddy; and then, having 

 arranged landing net and basket, convenient 

 to my hand, I waited, Micawber-like, for 

 something to turn up, keeping perfectly 

 still the while. 



Presently I observed one or two trout 

 rising near to the part where the stream 

 rushed against the rocky wall of the oppo- 

 site side. Now, it happened that the stream 

 just above the pool was useless, because of 

 trees and bushes, and also because it was a 

 thin and quite characterless bit of water for 



