54 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



the folly of such proceedings, and to-day I never 

 venture into the shallowest brook until I have 

 carefully rubbed my feet with cod-liver oil, and 

 encased my legs in thick waterproof waders 

 reaching up to my neck. 



Even so it is not always possible to avoid 

 accidents. Once, for instance, when I was 

 paternostering for pike in Perthshire, I in- 

 advertently stepped into a deep hole in the river 

 bed. The water immediately rushed in over the 

 top of my waders, carrjdng with it a shoal of 

 small minnows (or sticklebacks) that chanced to 

 be in the vicinity. These creatures, in their 

 frantic efforts to escape, coursed madly round 

 and round inside my boots, and so tickled and 

 excoriated my legs that I became almost de- 

 mented, and was afterwards laid up in bed for 

 nearly three weeks with acute inflammation of 

 the hips. 



In order to guard against the recurrence of so 

 unpleasant an experience I fastened a stout 

 leather strap round the top of my waders before 

 ventm*ing upon another fishing expedition. The 

 result of this nearly proved fatal. When trying 

 to land a six-pound grayling, on the bonny, 

 bonny banks of Loch Lomond, last spring, I 

 overbalanced myself, lost my footing on a 

 slippery rock, and fell headlong into the water. 

 It is true that the strap round my chest pre- 



