FIFTH DAY. 133 



greater when the line is the least slack than 

 when short ; taking care, however, never 

 to pull your fish, which may be hooked 

 slightly, in which case you infallibly lose 

 him. Come, clear your line and try again. 

 Another ! shorten line, and keep him clear 

 of that stone. Well done ! you have him 

 now at advantage. He grows weak bring 

 him to the side there ! What think you 

 of this spot ? 



J. Beautiful ! I never saw a sweeter 

 stream in the south of England. What a 

 shoal of minnows in the pool behind that 

 great stone* 



S. They are there to avoid the trouts 

 which are now on the shallows. A friend, 

 on whose veracity I can implicitly rely, 

 told me, that some years since, he was one 

 day fishing in Hertfordshire, when, as he 

 sat by the river-side changing his flies, 

 he beheld a concourse of these beautiful 

 little fishes apparently in deep council. 



