206 SEA-TROUT 



sible that out of this multitude there were not a few 

 that could be induced to take a fly, if it were only out 

 of sheer malice. But no ! for two hours I plied them 

 with all the resources of civilisation ; result a single 

 deluded herling of half a pound. I got tired of it ; 

 wound up and returned to the watcher's cottage about 

 a mile up the river, where I had left my bicycle. He 

 was not surprised at my ill-success, knowing that 

 hardly a fish will take before dark in dead low water. 

 It was quite dark by this time, and he said I could 

 catch as many as I liked if I tried the pool in front 

 of his house. 



There was not much art required. I cast my flies 

 over the inky waters a plunge, a short scream from 

 the reel, and a wild dashing about the pool ; my tackle 

 was stout, and I held on firmly, and presently a two- 

 pounder was scooped out, with the starlight glittering 

 on his silvery coat. No need to change my position ; 

 sea-trout creep up in the lowest water into the pools. 

 I could hear them rippling over the shallows. The 

 sport goes on all the hours of darkness, ceasing about 

 two in the morning. But it soon palls, and one longs 

 for a tumbling spate to have the perfection of sea-trout 

 angling. 



A fortnight later I returned to the same place. 

 What an altered scene ! There had been a five-foot 

 flood the day before, and the narrow, glassy puddle 

 from which I had filled my basket under cloud of 

 night was a broad, swift reach of foam-flecked, tossing 

 water. I had two rods with me an eighteen-foot green- 



