JUNE 139 



triumph of the following morning, in the same place. 

 The water was lower, and, if possible, clearer, for there 

 had been frost in the night, cutting off the tribute of 

 the snows ; wherefore the lure which I selected, in some- 

 what faint hope of attracting the companion to the lost 

 fish (I firmly believe there were but two in the pool), 

 was a double-hooked ' Silver-gray,' scarcely an inch long. 

 He took it like a tiger, and behaved like a fool. Had 

 he taken the same road as his comrade, the result might 

 have been told in the same terms. But he didn't. He 

 banged about the foss pool, round and round, up and 

 down, plunging like a grilse, and in less than fifteen 

 minutes he pulled the steelyard down to an honest 32 1 Ibs. 

 Which was well enough ; yet it served to increase my 

 chagrin for the loss of that other. 



XXXV 



Etymology cannot be classed among the necessaries 

 of life. Plenty of successful households are 



Sandal 



conducted in ignorance of its very elements, 

 practical men caring much for the use of vocables, little 

 or nothing for their origin. Sometimes, however, the 

 root-meaning of a word is driven home with special 

 significance; and this is the case in Norway, the land 

 of dais. Every great river there has its dal, just as in 

 the Scottish Highlands it has its 'strath,' in the Low- 

 lands and Northern England its ' dale,' and in the Mid- 

 lands its ' vale ' or ' valley.' In Norway the dal receives 

 emphasis from the stupendous mountain barriers which 

 separate one river from another, for the root-meaning 

 of that monosyllable is ' separation ' ; it is the same word 

 and idea as our ' deal ' of cards, ' a great deal,' and even 



