12 FISHING GOSSIP. 



landing-net of ample dimensions ; a cast of lake flies 

 in his hat ; and, suspended in his left hand, an old tin 

 kettle, very much the worse for the wear. A potato, 

 firmly impaled on its nozzle, helped to keep the 

 contents from escaping ; corks being a luxury not 

 always at hand in those days in out-of-the-way places. 

 The regard, however, with which he grasped the 

 handle of this part of his equipage would appear to 

 attach greater importance to the contents than the 

 exterior seemed to justify. To the junior figure in 

 the scene the article was an entirely new item in a 

 fly-fisher's impedimenta, and forcibly attracted his 

 attention. He had rowed and fished in the same 

 boat with the most aristocratic anglers of the county ; 

 but amongst the superfluities of their tackle he had 

 never observed a utensil of this kind. Had it been 

 a flask of " mountain-dew," or a sandwich-case of 

 smoked beef or ham, he would have thoroughly 

 comprehended its congruity with the occasion ; but 

 an old tin kettle ! the very thought filled his mind 

 with mingled sensations of wonder and ridicule. 

 Yet he had far too high an opinion of his friend's 

 sagacity to believe that he would thus burthen him- 

 self with such an incumbrance on a hot summer's 

 morning without some sufficing reason. His ac- 

 quaintance's success, too, of late, when other fishers 

 were becalmed, or unfortunate in the selection of 

 their flies, had reached his ears, and served to awaken 



